


These kids aren’t alright

by Naiyah28



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coran knows all, Elemental au if you squint, Even I don’t know, Everyone is a massive geek, Everyone’s oblivious, F/M, Hunks the guy in the chair, M/M, Multi, Slow Burn, Superpower Au I guess, Will Allura make an appearance, based of a writing prompt, exept Coran
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-06-23 13:23:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15607218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naiyah28/pseuds/Naiyah28
Summary: Pidge’s brother is staying in New York to protect the city. When Pidge and her friend Keith get desperate they turn to a darker path to get their brothers to stay in the city. But what happens when an overexcited new superhero decides that stopping them is his duty.Based of a writing prompt I saw on Pinterest.





	1. Pidge’s grand plan

“Today the masked crusaders blade and python managed to save New York again. Some people believe that these two will become permanent heroes in the state and will stop any villains that threaten the area. The surprise change in-“

Pidge turned the TV off, a feeling of uncertainty settling over her. Matt said he would be back soon, that the full time hero work in New York was going to last until Allura learned how to really use her powers. Pidge was now starting to doubt that. Allura has been seen holding her own in fights all over the city but Matt and Shiro still weren’t here.

She had just turned 15 which was when most superheroes got their powers. She wanted Matt to be back by the time she worked out what they were. Matt had control over electricity which had been annoying when she had pissed him off but it was always just fun and games. His best friend ,Shiro, also had powers although his were more the generic super strength and could run slightly faster them a normal human type. Well that and the ability to fly.

With a sigh, Pidge turned back to the computer and continued her essay on space travel. Music played through her headphones, shutting of everything but her the song and how fast it would take to get to each planet in the solar system. The variety in her music was actually hilarious. One minute she could be listening to some p!atd (curtesy of Keith) and in the next she could be singing every word to a musical (Lance’s preference this time).

Pidge focused on her paper for what felt like ten minutes but when she checked the clock she realised it had been just over two hours. Another thing she missed about Matt, he made sure she actually got to sleep by stopping electricity to her laptop. She used to hate it but now she was going to be a zombie when she got to school. She will, once again, be running on caffeine and spite.

Pidge went over to the bed and climbed underneath the covers. The May weather was surprisingly cold so she could sleep under them rather then kick them off halfway off and have them end up on the floor. She shut her eyes and let her imagination take her away. She couldn’t get to sleep before making a story out of different things. It was annoying at times but today it didn’t take long to finally get some shut eye. 

She woke up to the sound of her alarm and reached out to hit the snooze. She then sat up to find that she had actually knocked her blanket on the floor again. She shoved them on her bed and made her way to the kitchen. She gave her mom a blunt hello and waved at the other person at the table. She had made her breakfast and sat down at the table before she even looked at them. 

“Matt,” she practically screamed his name when she realized who it was. His hair was slightly longer and he had a faint scar on his cheek but apart from that he was exactly as she remembered him when they said goodbye, “When did you get back? Are you back for good?” 

“I just got here. I take it you were up all night doing a project.” Matt pushed a cup of coffee towards her. He’d obviously prepared for his sisters atrocious sleeping pattern. Somethings never change. “And no I’m heading back to NYC with Shiro after we sort out some criminals here we’ll be heading back.”

Pidge hid her disappointment from Matt. She didn’t want to course trouble but she wished he would at least stop long enough to find out what powers she got. She barely saw him for more then three days in a row. 

She finished off her food and ran upstairs to get changed. She wore her green sweater and black shorts. Sure it was getting warmer but she was willing to suffer for aesthetics. She topped it off with an old pair of Matt’s glasses. He’d stopped needing them when a healer had done some magic shit on his eyes but Pidge found them comforting. At that she grabbed her bag and left the house. 

It took her a minute or two to walk down to were Keith and Shiro’s apartment was but Keith still managed to not be there. She sent him a quick text to tell him she was waiting and lent against the wall. Keith eventually came out the building in all his emo glory. He wore an all black outfit with a red jacket over the top. 

“Are you ready to go or do you need another few minutes to style your hair before we go.” Keith still had his mullet. He said he was going to get rid of it years ago but it had stuck around through the years. Pidge was 75% sure it was just to piss of Lance which she always approved of but was that really a valid reason to keep that monstrosity.

“Funny. Shiro was having a conversation with me about trust and using my gifts responsibly. Like I was going to go up to someone’s house and burn it down. Am I really that idiotic?”

“At times. Don’t forget when you nearly killed Lance.” 

“That wasn’t completely my fault. I told you all to stand back not run forward. Don’t put the blame on me ‘cause he doesn’t take orders well.”

“We both know that if you say anything to Lance he’ll do the exact opposite.” 

Keith nodded at this. “Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. How’s Matt? Shiro’s a bit of a mess.”

“He’s fine I guess. Says he’s going back soon when they catch the bad guy. Isn’t it funny how they only come back to do work and not to talk to us.”

“I know what you mean. Can’t they come home without having a ulterior motive to it?”

“Exactly. Dad is still out of the country on a mission. Why does Matt have to in a different place as well?”

Keith opened his mouth to reply but looked at someone over Pidge’s head. She turned and saw Lance and Hunk coming towards them at lightning speed. 

“You guys won’t believe this. Blade and Python are back. There must be something big going on if both have come back. And now I have a chance to meet them.”

The funny thing was that Lance had met both the heroes countless times. She couldn’t help but steal a smile at the thought of Lance realizing that he had called Python a geek countless times. Keith seemed to find the fact hilarious as well. 

“Really, I can’t believe it. Why would they come back now?” Pidge wasn’t sure if Hunk had worked out who the heroes were on one hand he was probably the second smartest in the group but he could let his emotions cloud his judgment at times. 

The bell rung for class and the friends went in different directions. Pidge was a year below her friends so she was pretty lonely in her classes. She slid into her seat next to Romelle ,an over excited girl who was so sweet. After Shay moved schools leaving Hunk upset Pidge had made it her goal to get Romelle and Hunk together. 

As the teacher droned on about pronunciation Romelle had turned to Pidge and started talking about anything and everything. Pidge was surprised that Romelle could talk about absolutely nothing for hours and still be more interesting than half the teachers at the school. 

Her classes passed by quickly and before she new it she was sitting across from Lance making inside jokes and waiting for the two idiots who normally sat with them to come over. All topics managed to circle round to her brother although Lance didn’t know that was who they were talking about. 

“I heard he can charge a phone by just holding it for a second.” That was correct. “And that he can cut of any electrical source.” Also correct. “But I want to know, why Python? I prefer Cobras.”

“Python is a coding term. He must have been good with computers before...”

“Before what?” Lance looked at her trying to figure out what she was going to say.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Most people believe that if you have powers you’re born with them instead of gaining them after you turned 15. She had almost given away how much she actually knew about these heroes which would have led to some unfortunate questions from Lance.

They sat in silence for a bit. Pidgd guessed he was checking it some girl from across the room. “Is Matt coming back anytime soon?”

“Yeah, in a couple of days actually. Him and Shiro are taking a break from Uni for a bit.”

“Cool. You still seem a bit out of it though.”

“I didn’t get much sleep last night. I started another project and got really focused on it. Don’t worry though, I had Hamilton songs playing while doing it.”

“You could say you were non-stop.” Pidge groaned at the terribly hidden reference. 

Out of nowhere Hunk sat down next to Lance and they sparked up a conversation which gave Pidge time to think things over. Matt was staying in town temporarily because a villain had come and would go back after they were defeated but what if more villains were here. Then him and Shiro would have to stay longer. Pidge was so focused on her thoughts that she didn’t realise Hunk and Lance had just asked her a question. 

“What was that again?” Pidge was then filled in on their plans to see a movie. It was about a plague that had wiped out most children and left the rest with powers. Pidge has read the book and found it really enjoyable. She agreed quickly and went back to eating her food. 

The rest of lunch was a blur. Keith eventually found them and sat next to Pidge, who promptly told him about the movie. He told them he would think about it which always meant he would. Keith tried not to open up to anyone but he gave so many signs of what he’s thinking. He’s a closed book who dog ears pages so that anyone who wants to knows what he’s thinking.

The bell rung after they had finished and they were all forced to run to class. Pidge has maths next which she knew she was good at. She copied notes of the whiteboard and answered questions in her notebook for the full hour. Her teacher droned on about algebraic problems that she could answer in a second which didn’t help her mind stay focused. Instead she let it wonder, thinking of ways to get her Brother to stay. 

She knew there had to be a way to keep him here but she’d have to get a villain to come to the city and be a big enough threat to keep Matt here. It was either that or create her own villain and use them to stop both Matt and Shiro from leaving to New York. But who would help her? Who had the same goals as she did? Pidge started to make a list of people she knew who had powers and didn’t use them.

Her Mom hadn’t used her powers in years, making them dormant. Her mom never told Pidge what powers she had but Pidge knew they were powerful. Matt had both Primary and Secondary powers meaning that his inherited genes from at least one parent were extraordinary. 

 

Her Dad’s gift was really his mind. Well being oddly flexible as well but mostly his brain. He couldn’t lift things up with his mind but he was probably the most logical person Pidge had ever met. His powers weren’t particularly extraordinary so it must have been mom. 

Coran, her cooky English teacher and Allura’s godfather, was moving to New York soon to join Allura in fighting crime. Everyone at school would miss him but if he could help Allura with her load it would be worth losing him as an English teacher. 

The last person she could think of was Keith. He had gained his powers a year ago and had been trying to suppress them ever since. He’d taken to wearing leather, fingerless gloves to stop his powers from burning down the school or his apartment but if he learned to control his powers he could help her keep Shiro and Matt at home.

Keith and Shiro were practically brothers. After Keith’s dad died in a fire, ironic, Keith was moved from orphanage to foster home until he was shoved out onto the street. He took to stealing for food and was found by Shiro, who had gained his abilities a couple of years back, and taken in by the Shiroganes. He now stayed in an apartment that he shared with Shiro before the New York catastrophe had happened.

Pidge came to the conclusion that Keith was most likely as eager to keep Matt and Shiro at home. He would help. She knew he would. He had too. 

“Katie, can you answer the question on the board?” Her maths teacher gestured to the problem and it took Pidge a minute to realize she was being spoken to. Most people called her Pidge or smart ass so hearing her real name was odd. She quickly looked up at the question on the board 

“X equals 8,” the teacher was an asshole and was obviously disappointed not to catch her out. It gave her a slight satisfaction to see him unhappy, he treated everyone like shit. 

“At least look like you’re paying attention. People will mistake your over confidence for talent but I know you’re just an arrogant little brat.” Their teacher turned back to the board and Pidge took that time to give him the middle finger. Some people around her saw it and snickered but most continued staring at the clock, hoping for the end of the lesson and the school day. 

As the bell rung everyone rushed out the room to get home before the rest. Pidge headed to her locker to grab her books and was given a mint heart attack when she turned and saw Lance leaning over her. She nearly punched him in the gut when she saw him standing there. 

“Hey,” Lance didn’t even give her time to respond before he started talking again, “When do you want me too pick you up for the cinema? The movie starts at 6:30 but we’re gonna get a bite to eat first so 5:00”

“Umm, sure I guess.” Pidge got her mind organised and then thought through what she just said, “I mean...”

Lance was already racing down the hall to get to his car leaving their conversation half finished. Matt was at home. If they came to pick her up and saw Matt’s car then they would realise she’d lied about when Matt was back. Lance was a major superhero fanboy and had watched a few conspiracy theories on them. It wouldn’t take long for him and Hunk to put their two minds together and work out who the two supers were.

 

Shoving the rest of her books into her bag, she slammed the locker and went to go find Keith. She pushed through a crowd of people who were gathered by the door watching something on the car park. When she finally got through most of the group she saw what they were looking at. A fight had broken out between two teens, both of them looked ready to kill the other. Normally Pidge would ignore fights like these but one of the two had terrible hair and anger issues that could literally start a fire. She rushed down the steps that lead up to the school and shouted at Keith “What the fuck are you doing?”

Both guys turned to see her standing there. The guy who Keith had been fighting was a forgettable kid. He might be in the sports team but he didn’t wear a varsity jacket like most Jocks did. She gave up trying to remember his name, she could just tell he was an asshole. She flipped him off before half dragging Keith out of the school. 

As soon as they left the gates Pidge dropped Keith’s hand and looked at her own. It was tinged red and would probably blister soon. Keith also glanced at her palm before turning away to look at her with apologetic eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to. He just ...” Keith trailed off, he turned away so that Pidge couldn’t see his guilt.

“It’s fine, I can barely feel it.” Lie,”I just want to know what he did to get you so riled up.”

“He- It’s stupid really. He kept insulting me and I was fine but then he said that Shiro was as good as gone and that I should grow up. Then I just saw red and... well you know the rest.” Keith ran his hand through his hair, “I know there is a chance that Shiro won’t stay. I just don’t want to admit.”

“I know how you feel. Matt is gonna leave soon as well and I’ve been playing out scenarios in which I could get him to stay but none of them work. Well one does but it would take a lot to pull it off. If... if you were to pretend to be a supervillian then you might be able to get them to-“

“To come fight me, save this city. Pidge you’re a genius.” Keith’s attitude quickly went from disappointment to complete and utter happiness in seconds. “Why would it take a long time though?”

“Costumes, names, street cred. We need to get things in order before we become a big enough threat for those two. Also we have to do it inconspicuously and Matt can tell when my laptops on and off. If I’m not attempting to be up on it all night he knows something is wrong. We’ll have to wait till they leave.” Pidge explained the plan and with each word she grew more confident in it. It was going to work.

“And when you get your powers you can help me.” Keith also looked confident in the plan. His normal scowl was replaced with a big dopey grin that made him look like a five year old in a candy store. “Whatever they are they will be helpful.”

“If I get them.” Pidge finally voiced the worry that had slowly been forming in the months after her birthday. She knew off people whose parents had been super and had never gained them. It was a mental block or something. These people were more talented at things then most people but they didn’t have anything obviously extraordinary about them. Sometimes those children were kicked out off the family after they’d had their brains wiped of any superhero identities. “Their is chance you know. Statistically 1% off supers children are powerless. I could be part of that percentage of people.”

“Pidge, you’re the least likely person to not have powers. I didn’t think I would and look at me now. I’ve basically burned all the furniture in my room. Shiro told me that it took him half a year after his birthday to get his powers.”

“Surprising as he’s only six. Must have been a rare case.” Shiro was in fact 25 but he was born on the 29th of February. It had been a running gag, when Matt, Pidge or Keith swore they covered Shiro’s ears. 

Keith snorted at this and they walked home in near silence. “By the way Matt and Shiro aren’t home today if Lance asks. If we keep being so obvious about who they are Hunk and Lance are going to put two and two together.” 

Keith nodded in agreement then went into his apartment block, leaving Pidge to think about her plan. She had Keith on her side but now she needed to build his image up from the ground as dangerous. 

It was the only way to keep Matt and Shiro where they belonged. It had to work.


	2. Give em hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge finally has the time to talk to Matt and finds out some unfortunate news.

Pidge walked into the kitchen to find Matt sitting there messing with the light on the oven. When he saw Pidge he stopped and a smile grew on his face. “There’s my favourite piece of shit. Good to see you when you can actually process things I say. How was school?”

“Good, I guess.” Matt signaled for her to go on, “Mr Haxus hates all our guts and it’s Coran’s last year but apart from that everything is great.”

“Oh. I forgot Coran was leaving. Him and Allura will make a good team after me and Shiro move to Chicago. Is he still the best teacher there?” Matt didn’t know his sister could stand up so fast. In between his sentences she’d managed to move next to him in a matter of seconds.

“Chicago. You’re going to Chicago. Why didn’t you tell me?” Pidge tried not to show her emotions but Matt could tell exactly what she was feeling. 

“I didn’t get the chance. Crime rates are going up there. Allura has got the basics to crime fighting pretty fast and some new heroes have turned up here so me and Shiro need a new city to look after.” Pidge froze at this. She knew that her brother would stay away for a bit but moving to Chicago for a part time super job. This was crazy. She looked at Matt, hoping that he would start laughing and tell her he was actually moving back but his face stayed exactly the same.

“That’s cool. Awesome actually. Why- when are you moving?” 

“After me and Shiro finish college.” Matt had been going to Columbia since he graduated but he always attempted to get home on weekends. 

“So in September then.” 

“Yeah, maybe August if we’re lucky” Pidge had been certain that Matt could pick up on her opinion on the matter but he seemed to think she was happy about it. 

“Well Lance is picking me up in half an hour to go to the movies.” Pidge just needed out of the conversation right now. She couldn’t process everything that was being said at once. “We’re getting food out. I told them you wouldn’t be back for a few days so could you move your car out the driveway.” Matt nodded and went out to move his car a block or two down. 

Once Pidge heard the door close she ran up the stairs to her room. She locked her door and stood there for a moment, letting all her thoughts sink in. She and Keith had roughly four months to keep their brothers here. That was long enough, right?

____________________

 

Pidge checked her phone again, Lance had said 5:00 but it was pushing ten past and neither his or Hunk’s car had shown up. She sent him a third text asking where he was before making her way downstairs. She’d avoided Matt after their conversation but it was stupid to put off the inevitable, anyway if Lance actually showed she had an easy way out of any conversation. 

When she entered the kitchen she found her mom and Matt facing away from her in deep conversation. They hadn’t even noticed her arrival yet. She was about to make her presence known when she heard a snippet of what they were saying. 

“Katie is a big girl. She can handle you moving away.”

“You didn’t see her face when I told her, she looked like I’d shocked her with voltage. Anyway if she’s such a big girl why didn’t you tell her?”

“Well I wanted all my china intact while you were here.” Her moms joke didn’t seem to do anything for Matt’s mood, “I’m kidding. Although I’m pretty sure Katie wants you here for when she gets her powers.”

“I want to be there for it. God knows what powers she would get with her personality.” When you did get your powers they were always based of your personality. Katie wasn’t sure what she would get but she wanted them soon. She wanted them now. “But me and Shiro have to finish the term. She could come to New York for a bit. You know, talk to Allura about girl problems an-“

Matt was cut off by Pidge snorting. He and her mom spun around so quickly she was surprised they didn’t get whiplash. “Pidge, we thought you were out.”

Pidge shrugged “Lance hasn’t picked me up yet,” she checked her phone and saw a notification. “He says he’ll be here in two so you guys can continue talking about me after I leave.”

“Pidge we weren’t- I’m not.” Matt stumbled over his words.

“Take your time. You seem to have all the answers when I wasn’t here. Or you didn’t know I was anyway.” Pidge waved over her shoulder. “I’ll probably be back at seven if you want to finish your mother’s meeting.”

And with that Pidge left the room. She didn’t shut the door and felt like she’d won when she heard Matt get up and close it. One problem with her dramatic exit, Lance wouldn’t arrive for a while. She was forced to wait on the porch for the blue car to pull into her driveway. When it finally did she walked over to the door and sat herself in the back.

“Hey.” Lance was always brilliant at hellos. 

“Hi” Pidge responded with little enthusiasm. She looked at the front seat and saw her other friend was missing. “Where’s Hunk?”

“He’s not feeling well. He told us to watch the movie without him. I don’t think he was all that interested in it.” 

“The book was amazing so if they stick to that then it’ll probably be good as well. I just... if they ruin Chubs character then I’m suing.” Pidge strongly related to Chubs in all his awkward nerdy glory. 

Lance, obviously confused, just nodded his head. “I’m not even going to pretend I know who that is.”

“Are we picking up Keith then?”

“No.” Lance was obviously annoyed by this as well. “He’s meeting us at the cinema. Says he’s busy with homework or some shit like that.”

Keith must have been optimizing the time he had left with Shiro by avoiding eating with them. Smart move.

“Can I move into the front seat then?” 

“You have to be 12 and older” 

Pidge gave her friend the middle finger before climbing over the seats to sit shotgun. When she got their she buckled herself in and began tapping her foot against the car floor. 

“Do you want me to put on some music?” Pidge nodded her head. At that Lance plugged his phone into the stereo and put his songs on shuffle. Then he pulled out her driveway and headed to their local Waffle House. 

———————————————-

 

They met Keith at the cinema before grabbing some snacks and watching the movie. It was better than Pidge had expected except for a few plot points here and there (Chubs is a blue and should always be a blue). Lance got emotional and tried to deny it but the tears streaming down his face said enough.

Lance dropped Pidge at her house around 8:00 and said his farewells before heading back to the real life version of the Burrow that was the Mclain’s house. Pidge fumbled with her keys before opening the door and hoping that no one was waiting for her.

“Hey,” Matt was standing in the doorway to the living room, studying her as if she was a wild animal. “How was the movie?”

“Good. The book was miles better but it worked quite well.” Pidge made her way towards the stairs, hoping to escape this slightly awkward conversation. 

“I’m sorry about earlier.” Matt blurted out, “I didn’t mean too insult you”

“It’s fine” Pidge lies, “I over reacted.”

Matt was about to start talking again but Pidge cut him off,”I’m gonna get some sleep see you tomorrow.”

“Bye Pidge.”

————————————————

She’d been up hours now, trying to work out how to set up her friends super villain alter ego. As off now she hadn’t even given him a name and she was still sketching (badly) outfits. With a sigh she checked the clock. Two in the morning again great, a complete repeat of yesterday. 

Pidge turned of the light and dropped in her bed. She was quite preoccupied by thoughts of her family. So preoccupied she didn’t notice the potted plant on her desk that had been mimicking her exact movements since she came into the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys. Are you ready for heartbreak cause I’m certainly not. I haven’t watched the darkest minds movie yet cause I promised my friend we’d watch it together when she gets back from Lombok but I have read the book and really enjoyed it. I won’t be updating soon cause I’m going to be an emotional mess from season 7 but I can tell you that the next chapter is going to be from Keith’s point of view rather then Pidge’s. This is really short compared to the last chapter but I didn’t have much to say. It was just a filler chapter with a few important facts in. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	3. Fortunes can be confusing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith spends some quality time with Shiro.

When Keith got out of bed and looked at his phone he knew this day was going to be as shit as the last. He had once again over slept but at least this time Pidge wasn’t already outside waiting for him. 

He sprinted into the kitchen, nearly knocking a half-asleep Shiro over while doing so, and poured himself a bowl of cereal. After he’d wolfed down the food he ran to his room and got changed, making sure to put his gloves on. He had taken them off yesterday and he very much regretted it. He made a mental note to apologise to Pidge again before grabbing his bag and phone and racing out the apartment, shouting goodbye to Shiro as he slammed the door. 

“Hey,” Keith called as he saw Pidge in her usual spot, leaning against the wall, with an unusually downcast expression on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m guessing Shiro didn’t tell you about Chicago,” the two had seen each other yesterday but didn’t have time to discuss anything. Lance was always there and giving away that Shiro and Matt were here would have lead to some unfortunate questions.

“What about Chicago?”

“Matt and Shiro have decided to head to Chicago once Coran moves to New York with Allura. We have about 4 months to keep them here.”

Keith was flooded with realisation, “Shiro said something about a guy from New York moving to Chicago. His name is Adam or something like that and Shiro seemed quite interested in him.” 

As he watched Pidge start to smirk he knew that she was thinking about that one vine were the guy turns round and says Adam. Neither Pidge or Lance could last a day without making a vine reference, Keith was pretty certain that when those two went to Waffle House they just repeated “can I please get a waffle?” over and over.

Keith new Pidge was still upset but her mood had lightened slightly. She was joking around with him and talking rapidly about a book she’d read recently. She was waving her hands around and Pidge’s palm caught his attention. Neither of her palms had any sign of a burn on them even though yesterday they had been red and covered in blisters.

He grabbed her wrists to get a closer look at them. “Hey-“ Keith gave Pidge a confused look.

“How did you heal these burns so fast?” 

“I didn’t heal anything what are you-“ Pidge let her vision drop to her hand and saw what he was talking about. “What the fuck.”

“Maybe you got your powers. You could be a healer.” Keith looked at his friend who he expected to look happy to finally get her powers but instead she shook her head.

“Healers have to be generous and easy to get on with. You know that’s not like me. This may have something to do with my powers though.” No one was one hundred percent sure how you gained your powers. It was theorised that there was a super gene that took roughly fifteen years to adapt to your body and your power was based of your personality which would explain Keith’s fire powers.

“We’ll work it out, don’t worry.” Keith saw Pidge relax slightly before they entered the school and separated off to their different classes. Hunk, Keith and Lance had English with Coran, who seemed to want to make his last few months at the school as fun as possible. They took their seats and enjoyed the over the top lesson. 

They each had to do a rap as one of the characters in the book they were reading. The best rap got chocolate and bragging rights, which were two of Lance’s favourite things. He gave it his all and came out with a Hershey’s and a smug expression on his face. He began going on about his superior literary skills that would have gained him a slap in the back of the head if Pidge was here.

Keith headed to his locker and got the books he needed. He just hoped that the rest of the day wouldn’t go as slow as the morning had.

————————————————

Keith unlocked the apartment door and headed straight to the kitchen. “Shiro. Shiro,” a note sat on the counter telling Keith that Shiro had gone to get milk from the grocery store.

Keith moved to a chair and waited for Shiro to come back from the store. When the familiar sound of the door opening reached the living room Keith practically flew out his chair.

“Hey Keith,” Shiro held a shopping bag and looked happy to see his adoptive brother. “What’s up?”

“Are you going to Chicago?” Keith blurted out, he needed Shiro to tell him the truth. 

“Yes,” Shiro’s face turned downcast. “Adam is moving there and they need someone to protect them. I’m guessing Pidge told you.”

Keith nodded “Is that why you came back, to tell me person?” 

“Partly, there is a villain I needed to sort out and the new superhero here needed a bit of training but I wanted you to hear it from me.” Shiro looked at his brother. “We’ll have more time to see you as well. We’ll be out of college and I’m going to have the weekends off”

Shiro had wanted to be a teacher from a young age. He had a way with kids and he’d always liked the idea of not having to work in the summer or on weekends. Keith had always thought that he’d teach at the Garrison not some random place in Chicago. 

“There’s also a university in Chicago that you can come to when you graduate. It’s not like we’re not going to see each other again, I’ll just be a bit further away then we thought I would.” 

Keith nodded his head at this then changed the topic of their conversation, Which villain is here?”

“Macidus has made a surprise return.” Macidus was one of Hagar’s servants who have an unusual sort of magic. Everyone thought he died after falling off a building in a battle with Shiro. “We couldn’t let him send a signal to Haggar , coming to stop him was the only option. I don’t think Riptide would’ve been able to handle him by himself.”

“Riptide?” 

“The new superhero, I’m surprised you haven’t heard about him yet. Good kid, a bit excitable at times sure but he’s a good kid.” Shiro’s explanation solved some of the questions he’d been asking. He’d heard people talk about Riptide before but he’d never put it together. He thought everyone at school just really liked the sea at the moment.

“I’m guessing he has water powers.”

“Hydrokineses.” From a young age people with super parents learnt to use the long, complicated words to describe people’s powers. Shiro was still trying to get Keith to as well but after being called a fire bender by Pidge so many times he had learnt to simplify the names. “Yeah, he’s getting good at controling them as well.” 

“Hey, I’m guessing controlling water when you want to is a lot easier then having fire come out your hands.” Shiro laughed at this before turning around and heading to the kitchen. 

“What do we have for dinner?” Shiro was talking to himself more then he was to Keith. While Shiro was deciding Keith went on his phone to look up the new hero. 

Riptide looked familiar but Keith couldn’t place it. He gathered from the comment section of one of the videos of him saving people that he was quite the hit with a lot of teenage girls. Some had even made tumblr blogs about the guy, paring him with all sorts of heroes from across the country.

“We have absolutely nothing. Keith we’re ordering Chinese.” Keith smiled but heard Shiro say “I just went to the fucking shops why didn’t I get anything there?”

It was Keith’s turn to laugh as he passed Shiro his phone because guess who has the Chinese place on speed dial and still has their order memorized. At that moment Keith truly realized how much he’d missed Shiro.

————————————————

“Read yours out.” Leaning back on the sofa, Keith opened the fortune cookie and took the piece of paper out. 

“‘The world may be your oyster but that doesn’t mean you’ll get a pearl.’ When did these get so deep?” Keith took a bite out of the cookie. He didn’t actually like the taste but what was the point of just throwing the shell away. “What about yours?”

“‘Help! I’m trapped in a fortune cookie factory.’”Shiro snorted at this before passing Keith the last cookie in the small box.

“I stand corrected.” Keith cracked it open and pulled the slip out. “‘If you’re happy and you know it, don’t get used to it.’ Do they actually give these things to kids? I would’ve been traumatised by this”

“Nearly as traumatised as I was when I say a nine year old breaking into my car.” 

“I was ten at the time actually. Anyway if I hadn’t tried that I wouldn’t have met you.”

“That doesn’t make up for pulling a Jason Todd.” Even though Shiro was an actual hero it was surprising how many comic book references he made.

“Does that mean I’m going to die? Finally, the sweet release of death is coming.” This urned him an elbow in the ribs from Shiro.

“As long as you don’t turn evil on me we’re fine.” It’s not like him and Pidge had started planning that for the last couple of days. He was saved from giving away their plan when a truly awful act come on America’s got talent.

They stayed up for a while after that, talking and watching trashy tv shows that came on. Keith felt a feeling of happiness settle over him. This is what they’d done everyday before Shiro had headed to New York. Keith wanted to keep this forever and he’d already started down the road to doing just that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the friendship fluff these two have and Shiro finally makes an enterance into this story. The next chapter will be from Lance’s point of view. I Hope you enjoyed season 7.


	4. Getting Ripped Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance readies himself for his first real superhero mission but his fantasies and the reality are two very different things

You could say Lance was shaken awake by his sister. Well shaken was putting it lightly, she literally pulled him out of bed before preceding to dump a glass of water in his face. She then told him to get his ass downstairs before his mom came up stairs.

Lance rubbed his eyes and got off the floor. He’d stayed out late, practicing crime fighting and helping people out. He had been doing this for the last three or four weeks and training seemed to have taken priority over everything else. He’d nearly missed picking up Pidge to go to Waffle House.

He stumbled down the stairs and made his way to the ever hectic breakfast table. A stack of his moms pancakes were in the middle of the table. He put two on his plate and began adding syrup and wiped cream. When he finished his masterpiece he sat down in his chair and ate the food in front of him, savoring every blueberry filled bite he took.

He raced back up stairs and grabbed an outfit from his closet, throwing it on, before grabbed his school bag and attempting to put his feet into his shoes. He nearly flew down the stairs and stopped himself short of falling over. He gave him mom a hug goodbye then raced out the house.

Lance walked to school alone, Pidge, Keith and Hunk all lived in different directions from school, so he played his music through his headphones. As always, he met Hunk at the gate and struck up a conversation about absolutely nothing. 

Last time Hunk hadn’t been near there Lance was forced to go around the school, trying (and failing) to find his best friend and he didn’t want to repeat that. He and Hunk had agreed to wait for each other at the gate so neither was left searching for the other.

After a while they were met by Pidge and Keith who seemed to be deep in conversation. Lance had constantly speculated that the two were dating which always seemed to get a laugh out of Hunk. 

“Hey guys.” Lance moved towards the pair who looked up as soon as they heard the familiar voice. Pidge replied half heartedly while Keith completely ignored him. 

“Don’t mind Keith, Shiro and Matt are back though. You can finally get Shiro’s autograph, right Lance.” Pidge’s need for a sarcastic comment in every sentence felt normal to him now. Most of the time, everything that she said was quite funny unless it insulted him. 

“Really funny, anyway I’d rather get Riptides autograph.” Lance felt the need to mention his superhero alter ego, he had seen some of the local fan girl’s blogs and was quite happy with the buzz he’d created. 

Pidge looked at Keith then burst out laughing. “Can I please tell them?”

“If you dare I will cut you.”

“Oh, now I’ve got to know.” Hunk interjected into the conversation.

“Sorry guys but I think making it past adolescence is pretty high on my wish list.” That was code for I’ll tell you guys when Keith wasn’t here. “Anyway did you get that vine compilation I sent you.”

————————————————

Lance suffered through his first two classes and headed to lunch. He met Pidge at their usual table and started a new conversation. He found it easy to talk to her, she didn’t just agree with everything he said like must people did (which constantly gave him the impression that they weren’t actually listening) she asked questions, tried to see his point of view and flat out told him when he was being an idiot. It was ... nice

When Hunk came and sat down on the table they were deep in discussion about who would be each sander side, “I’m Logan, you’re Roman, Hunk is Patton and Keith is Virgil.”

“I mean in a way yes but I think Keith is a little bit to reckless to be a Virgil and Hunk isn’t as innocent as Patton.”

“I know but who else would everyone be, don’t point out flaws in my system unless you have something to fill them with.”

Hunk looked between the two, “Are you actually arguing about Thomas Sanders?”

“Yes.” Lance stated, “At least we’re not arguing about Avatar characters anymore. Although we all know that Allura is much more of a Suki than a Katara.”

“Just because you can’t get ov-“ Hunk groaned, stopping the pair from continuing their debate, even if both wanted to. Hunk was the only one who could moderate the pair as both didn’t want to annoy him. Both his friendship and his cookies hung in the balance if they pissed Hunk off.

They ate in silence for a bit until Keith sat down with them. Lance couldn’t help notice how many more girls were staring at the table now. He had heard everyone wondering about what Keith talks about, most going for deep poetry or some other sort of shit like that. It would be a surprise to them when they found out his inner monologue was normally filled with the 1am thoughts he had that normally drove Hunk insane when he stayed over.

The bell rung for lessons and the gang split up once again. Lance sat down in his seat and stared at the clock for the entirety of the lesson, slowly watching as the time passed by. 

He was going to spend time with Python and Blade two hours after school, both hadn’t been able to make it to training yesterday because of personal reasons. Lance didn’t realize that big shot vigilantes could handle having two lives but the pair seemed to handle it. Actually he found out that both of them were graduating from college next year and weren’t that much older then Lance was. He had began to wonder that if he continued this for a couple more years he would also get a white streak in his hair.

American history merged into Geography which became Maths. Lance was good in all of these classes but he wasn’t a stand out like he was in sports. He used the three hours to let his mind wonder. 

He was still trying to create a theory on how he gained his powers, neither of his parents had shown any weird abilities but a short time after his 15th birthday he had managed to knock a glass of water off the table by pushing the water against the side. Had he drunk some radioactive water or something?

Lance gave up on trying to work out answers to more complicated questions and began trying to find the value of x. 

————————————————

He and the rest of the students in maths raced out as the bell rang, signalling the end of the day. He grabbed everything important from his locker, said goodbye to Hunk when he saw him in the way out and headed back to his house.

As he opened the door he was met by his niece running up to him and giving him a hug. “Uncle Lance.”

“Hey Val, do you know where your Gran is?” His brother had two children, Valeria and Mateo, who were both too cute for Lance to handle. When ever Marco went on a business trip he dropped the siblings here for his mom to look after.

“In the kitchen.” Lance started to head there when Val grabbed his hand. “I’m under special orders to send you straight to Veronica.”

Lance laughed at this and ruffled the girls hair. “Where is Veronica then?”

“Upstairs. She told me to tell you to hurry up, it seemed important.” Val then waved at him and left the hall, most likely to look for Mateo.

With a sigh, Lance began to climb the stairs and went into Veronica’s room. Unlike his room it was a mess, Veronica didn’t seem to have the time to tidy her room when she could be working on a new project. He, on the other hand, had so much spare time he’d began to wonder if he should tidy her room for her. He had actually started but after five seconds he had given up.

“I hear from our new door woman that you wanted to see me.” Veronica nodded looking slightly downcast. 

“Mom told me too get a few toys from your room, you know to entertain the kids, and I found something.” Lance tried to work out what she was saying then realized what she was saying. He had hid his homemade costume in the toy chest because who was going to look in there.

“Have you-“

“No, I thought it’d be easier if this stayed between us, I also have... unusual talents.” Lance’s eyes lit up at this. “Well not exactly like yours. I’m a healer, so if you get yourself stabbed at one in the morning call me.”

Lance nodded and went to leave, “Does anyone else know it’s you?”

“No one, I haven’t even told Hunk yet.” Lance began messing with his hands. “I’m not ... I don’t want to get him wrapped up in all of this.”

“Hunk’s a smart guy, he’ll figure it out eventually. I can guarantee that it’ll be better for both of you if he hears it from you.” Veronica then pulled him into a hug before turning back to her computer and continuing typing something out on it.

Lance left the room and began to walk down the stairs to go talk to his mom. 

————————————————-

Lance sat on the building roof, waiting for the pair of heroes to arrive and begin today’s training. He was in the perfect place to survey the entire city at could pick out different landmarks.

He looked at all the lights moving across the roads and the street lights. If he opened his eyes wide enough they all blurred into mindless circles of white and yellow. He was so focused on the view that he didn’t notice the two figures standing behind him until he heard one of them cough.

“Oh. Umm, sorry I was just looking at the ...” Lance trailed off, the night was dark but he could still tell that the pair were smiling. 

“It’s fine Riptide. We were running a little late, don’t blame yourself for that.” One of them, most likely Blade, said. He was the more serious of the two and was definitely more of a mentor. His powers weren’t in your face but he seemed to have the capability to lead people while Python was more brains with crazy electric powers.

“Are we going to train then?” Lance had already stretched out and was ready for whatever they threw at him.

“We were thinking of actually fighting a villain today, the best way to learn is from experience, right?” Lance wasn’t sure what to say, he’d only ever dreamed of helping the two people in front of him to capture a criminal and it was actually happening. He would post about it on all his social media except he didn’t want everyone to know his secret identity. 

“Thank you. I swear you won’t regret this.” 

“I hope we won’t. We know a local healer if it gets out of hand but don’t do anything to dangerous. We don’t want you put out of action before you even properly start.” 

Blade then grabbed both of the heroes by the waist and flew them off the building. Well it wasn’t really flying, more like a slowed decent down the side of the building but Lance still found it awesome.

When they landed on the ground Blade continued moving like nothing had happened while Lance stood there, stunned. “You’ll get over the shock. Blade has just got so used to it he forgets that other people have never flown before.” Lance blushed at how obvious he had made his awe. He moved forwards with Python next to him, passing words and asking the occasional questions about New York. 

After a while they saw Blade stooping behind a crate on a dock. The two followed suit, staying low to the ground and listening to a conversation that was happening between two unknown voices. 

“I need to get in touch with her.” Lance could here the man pacing even from ten feet away from him. It sounded like he was in a state between annoyance and fear. Lance looked round the crate to try and take a look at the enemy. 

He had a split second to take in his appearance but that seemed far too long. His skin was slightly yellow and looked like it had begun to crack. It reminded Lance of the time Veronica had made him watch a documentary on snakes. He couldn’t see the person he was talking to but his voice sent a tremor down his spine.

“Where’s the proof? We have no idea if you’re telling the truth. You could just be trying to get back him Hagar’s good graces.” Even though the voice was slightly distorted it still held aspects of fingernail running down a blackboard. 

“Please you’ve got to trust me. They came back, their must be something important here. You can’t just-“ A beep came that Lance knew from closing FaceTime. It was a video chat, really? Wasn’t there a cooler way to share your evil plans. 

Lance looked over at the smaller of the two heroes only to find that they were already running into the battle, sparks of electricity coming out of his fingertips as he raised them towards the lizard like man. Blade was also starting an attack, his from the sky. 

Lance looked to them, in complete and utter awe. He’d only seen videos of these two fighting together and the real life alternative was so much better. Their timing was impeccable, everything seemed perfectly planned out. They seemed aware of most of their surroundings but still managed to focus mainly on their foe.

Lance regained his composure and focused on summoning the water around them. He couldn’t create water but he could control any that was in a close proximity to himself. He was so concentrated on his current task he nearly missed a flash of green light. Their were two loud thuds and then complete silence.

Both supers lay on the ground, unmoving and limp. Python had got of easier, he’d simply dropped to the floor from where he was standing, but Blade had just dropped from at least ten feet onto a wooden deck. Lance could see a scarlet liquid, shining underneath the street lights and staining the white ends of Blades hair red. 

Macidus turned away from the two heroes. “Need proof, are their unconscious bodies proof enough for you.” He continued to mutter himself, completely oblivious to the threat hiding behind a stack of crates. 

Lance breathed a sigh of relief, they definitely weren’t dead but they would be if he didn’t act soon. He refocused on the water below him moving it towards the man who had just taken out his mentors. In one swift movement Lance brought the water up, through the docks wooden boards, and heard a quick yell which meant he’d hit. 

Lance moved out from behind the crate and saw the stunned villain on the ground. “Didn’t know these two had an apprentice. It’s really unlucky for you, Haggar only needs these two. You know what that means.” 

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re going to kill me.” Lance went to attack the guy with more water but he vanished, like literally vanished. One moment he was there the, next he wasn’t. 

A shot of electricity ran through him, it was short but still painful. Lance turned to see the man who had just disappeared behind him. His energy felt slightly depleted but that didn’t stop him from charging towards the figure. As Lance expected, Macidus once again vanished leaving the hero to ruin into nothing.

As Lance carried on running he made sure to make his movements hard to guess. He knew his destination but he couldn’t be hit by that electricity for a second time. If Lance did, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to fight back. 

The wall came quicker then expected and Lance turned and pressed his back against it. Even if he wasn’t the smartest guy ever he wasn’t a complete moron and he’d watched enough horror movies with Pidge to know that she would be screaming at him to get something solid behind him. Now Lance only needed to survey half of his surroundings to keep his guard up. 

He focused on finding a body of water to use as a weapon. Lance just needed a few more seconds to fully locate it. Every so often he looked in all directions to make sure he wouldn’t be caught unaware, making it a lot harder to pinpoint the exact location of the-.

A faint pop came, alerting Lance to something being a miss. He stopped focusing on the water and began frantically looking around. Every few seconds he heard the sound again. 

Pop

His head swivelled from side to side and his heart began to race. He was going to die. 

Pop

He had had so much planned for the future and it was all going to end here because he’d come out from behind that crate to save two people he barely knew.

Pop

Would anyone really miss him? His family would sure but what about anyone at school. A voice at the back of his head told Lance they wouldn’t. 

Pop

Lance suddenly felt a hand around his neck and knew the game was up. His attacker lifted him off the ground, legs kicking in a desperate attempt to escape the hold, and slammed him into the wall. 

“It was fun to play but I need to go handle my actual prize.” Lance continued to struggle to free himself from Macidus’ grip but it held firm “Don’t worry, I’ll still make it painful even if I’m slightly pressed for-“

Macidus’ monologue was cut short when a block of ice smashed into his head causing him to crumple, much like Blade and Python had probably done before. Lance stared at the scene and one thought came to mind. Did he do that?

Lance had never thought about freezing water with his powers but why not. He could control the liquid form, why not the solid? 

He was relieved to see Macidus’s chest rise and fall. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if he had done something fatal. Lance reached out his mind to find where he’d got the water that had most likely saved his life and found it quickly. He used the remaining water to fashion hand cuffs for his first foe, having them wrap around both wrists and focusing on solidifying them. 

Lance was about to leave when he saw a device wresting on his unconscious enemy’s hip. He unhooked it and focused on the writing covering the screen. He couldn’t understand the coding but he assumed that one of the other two could. 

Lance raced back to see if either hero had stirred yet, hoping both were at least alive. When he got their he saw Python sitting next to Blade, attempting to bring him back to consciousness. Lance moved closer, not wanting to impose but desperate to find out if they were alright.

“Thank god.” Python had just noticed Lance standing behind him. “I thought you were dead. Where were... did you-?

Lance gave a slow nod, “He’s passed out. I put him in bindings and got this,” he passed Python the device he had picked up, waiting to see what he’d say. 

“Tell me exactly what he did, what powers did he have?”

“Well he was able to teleport and he had this purple lightning thing he shot out of his hands. Why?” Lance looked between the device and the superhero in front of him.

“Because this device uses the superhero DNA in Nadas and create powers of them. From the look of this their abilities would be unstable and corrupt the user.”

Nadas? Lance knew nada meant nothing in Spanish but he was still confused. “What’s a Nada?”

“Someone from a superhero family who don’t gain their powers.” Lance must have still looked confused because Python continued on, “Have you read Harry Potter?” Lance nodded, “Well you know Filch was a squib then. Nadas are pretty much them. Some people I know call them squibs, they think it’s less offensive then calling them nothings.”

“If their are squibs does that mean there are muggleborns too?” Neither his mom or his dad had ever mentioned powers before and he needed to know if they’d been lying to him. 

“Yes, I’m guessing that’s what you are. Around the time you turn 15 you gain your powers. It depends on your heritage and personality what powers you get and if you get secondary powers.”

Lance relaxed a bit, some of his questions answered. “Did we win?” A weak voice came from beside the two.

“Yes we did, thanks to Riptide here.”

“Where’s Macidus then?” Blade went straight to the point even when he had only just woken up. Python gave an inquisitive look towards Lance who sighed. He opened his mind once again, picking water up near the dock before moving it to where he had left the villain. Lance used his powers to lift up the hand cuffs and slid the circle of water underneath the unconscious man.

Blade and Python sat there awkwardly, waiting for Macidus to arrive. Both looked at Lance whose energy had obviously been depleted when he was hit by that lightning taser thing. They finally saw the circle made up of ice float towards them, Lance becoming dreary every time it inches closer. 

When the circle was close enough he dropped it and helped Blade up before locking an arm around him. He and Python half guided, half pulled the tallest man towards the body on the ground. 

Even from far off Lance knew something was wrong, when Lance had left Macidus he had been certain that he was breathing. Now the body wasn’t moving at all, Lance reached down to take a better look at the body but was greeted with the handle of a knife protruding out the mans chest. 

“What the-. No, no, no.” He turned to the other two in absolute shock. “He was alive, he was breathing. What happened?”

“Someone doesn’t want him talking. Guess they took care of him.” Lance looked at them. They were acting like this was a daily occurrence for them- which it probably was. 

 

“Riptide, you couldn’t have done anything. If you’d been there they would have murdered you too.” Python put his hand on the young boys shoulder, trying to comfort him, but Lance brushed him off. 

‘This guy literally tried to kill you five seconds ago’ Lance thought to himself, ‘why are you beating yourself up over his death?’

Lance looked at the blade for a second time, memorizing the shape and pattern of it. Whoever had done this had a reason, and Lance was going to find out what it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though it was crazy long. I totally bet all of you didn’t know that Lance was Riptide. Macidus is that one dude from that one episode in season 7 so I thought I’d add him in here. I’m not sure when the next chapter will come out because I’m going To Oxford tomorrow and camping on the weekend. The other name for this chapter was ‘I don’t understand American school system’ but I decided against it. Thank you again and good luck for a while.


	5. Ready?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filler, this chapter is just filler really.

Pidge had given up being mad at Matt. After she found out what had happened at the docks yesterday her first thought was ‘what if Matt had died thinking I hated him?’ Just the thought of that happening scared Pidge half to death and she only had Riptide to thank for saving her brother’s life. 

Of course she and Keith were going to have to fight the kid if they were going to course enough of a stir to get Matt back but she still appreciated it. According to the intel Pidge had gained from her brother, Riptide took down an enemy without any assistance on his first job. The guy had to have pretty strong powers to be able to pull a thing like that.

Pidge sighed and made her way down the corridor. Poking her head round her brother’s door, she made absolutely certain that he was alright. Matt was face down on his bed and sleeping like a log, the ray must have drained his powers leaving him in a weakened state.

Pidge decided that he would still be unconscious for a while and headed to the kitchen. She grabbed a breakfast bar and an apple out of the cupboard, turning thoughts over in her head. All of them circled back to a single question. How much longer was Matt going to stay? 

Macidus had been beaten, now there was nothing keeping them there. Riptide’s training wasn’t 100% done but how long would it take for him to finish it up? ‘Not long’ the voice told, ‘Not long at all.’

Pidge began tapping on the table, trying, and failing, to think of something else. “You okay Katie,” Pidge turned to see her mom standing near the doorway.

“Yeah, just some homework I did that could’ve been done better,” She took another bite of the apple to avoid the conversation but she knew her mom could sense her anxiety. “It’s really not a problem.”

Her mom gave her a doubtful look but didn’t argue while Pidge went to throw away her rubbish. She then headed back to her bedroom to get ready for another day in the shit hole she called a school. 

After checking the weather out and seeing the rise in temperature, she grabbed shorts, a black tank top and her green bomber jacket so she wouldn’t be dress coded. She pulled her hair back into a messy bun and grabbed her glasses of her bedside table. 

She said a quick goodbye to her mom before heading to Keith’s apartment. She waited outside for what felt like an hour, she gave up on hoping her texts would go through and just called up to there apartment. “Keith, are you coming or not?”

The sound of the door unlocking was all the confirmation Pidge needed that Keith was in fact not okay. He had refused on countless occasions to let her see where he lived. Pidge moved to what she hoped was their apartment and knocked on the door, only to be greeted by an emotional looking Keith.

He was missing his trademark gloves and jacket and his hair was a complete mess. His eyes looked bloodshot, giving the impression that he hadn’t slept all night or had been crying. Maybe even both. “I’m not coming to school today. Shiro is still out of it and I think it’ll be better if I look after him for today.”

“Okay” Staying at home with her brother would have probably been the most nurturing thing to do but Pidge was certain that Matt would kill her if she skipped school. “I’ll just say your sick, it’s fine.”

“Thank you. See you Monday.” Keith shut the door in Pidge’s face and she went back too the street. Taking out her headphones, she realized that today was the first time in a while that she had walked up to school alone.

She and Keith had been forced to socialize when they were just kids. Matt had wanted to give her some actual friends while Shiro new that it was better for Keith to talk to someone who wasn’t him or his mom. The two best friends had forced them to play games until their annoying siblings became best friends as well. 

Music blared through her headphones as Pidge continued to walk towards the gate. Spotting Lance now moving in her direction, she turned to head towards him only to be stopped by the same asshole Keith had gotten into an argument with. 

“Where’s the mullet? I was looking forward to a round two.” Pidge still couldn’t remember his name. He was just the generic asshole with good hair who thought he was better then everyone else.

“Sick,” She states before trying to get round him to go talk to her friend.

“Griffin, pull yourself together. She obviously doesn’t want to talk to you.” Griffin’s friend had come up in complete silence and had scared both of them out of their skin. 

“What was that about?” Lance moved towards her, his face filled with confusion at the scene he’d just witnessed. 

“He wanted to know where Keith was. He’s off for the day and Griffin wanted to start another fight or some shit like that.”

They continued their conversation while walking towards the school entrance to wait for Hunk. The school’s walls weren’t exactly the most comfortable spot to lean against but the duo did it anyway. After a while Hunk arrived and joined them in their new spot.

“Did you hear about the fight yesterday?” Hunk tried to copy the pairs stance against the wall but it dug into his back, forcing him to just stand up straight.

“Yeah, pretty impressive.” 

“You think so.” Lance looked at Pidge as if he couldn’t believe she’d just said that.

“I mean yeah. He single handedly took down a villain on his first mission with barely any training. You’ve got to be pretty powerful to be able to do that.”

“Yeah you would have to be.” They headed inside just in time to hear the bell ring and went their separate ways. 

————————————————

Pidge opened her locker, getting rid off the books she’d needed for the last period and grabbing her books for her next lesson. She slammed the door shut and was frightened half to death by a lanky figure leaning, who the door had hid from her, and dropped all her books on the floor.

“Shit Pidge, sorry.” Lance was failing to hide the amusement that spread across his face. “I thought you knew I was here.”

“Obviously not,” Pidge had already picked up her text books and was giving Lance a rather unpleasant side eye. Although Lance had fine this every day for the last month, Pidge still jumped at the sight of him behind her locker from time to time. “Stop smirking, these are worth a lot more then your friendship.”

A gasp came from Lance, who must have decided to pretend to be hurt by her words, as they entered the lunch hall and sat down at their table. Pidge and Lance both brought lunches in with them which left them waiting for the other two members of their group to get lunch and join them, leaving them with a good ten minutes to kill. 

“How long until Matt heads back to New York?” 

“I’m not certain, in the next few days maybe. He’s still got classes and his exams are coming up pretty soon. Your... what’s the non gendered word for your siblings children.” 

“It’s sobrinos in Spanish but I don’t have a clue about English.” They ended up searching it up and found out it was niblings (like siblings with an N,).

“That’s fucking stupid. I’m not going to call my niece and nephew that, it makes me sound like a cannibal.” 

“Can’t agree more. Who even came up with that?” Pidge was double checking it but all of the websites said the same thing. “What a load of bull.”

Hunk came and sat down with them and was quickly told about his friends new knowledge. He quickly changed the topic of the conversation, trying to find something that he could talk about without feeling like an idiot. 

They left the hall together and once again separated to get to their different lessons. Pidge headed to English with Coran and was ready for an actually decent lesson. 

————————————————

The smell of burnt popcorn was the first thing that greeted Pidge when she entered the house. The second being the sound of an action movie playing on the tv. She headed to the living room and fell onto the sofa next to her brother.

“How was school?” Matt offered the bowl of popcorn to her and she grabbed a handful. 

“Same old same old. Nothing happened and tons of homework ‘cause the teachers just love to torture us.” Pidge glanced at the screen trying to work out what the movie they were watching was. She knew it was one of the terminators but couldn’t work out if it was the first or the second. 

They watched the rest of the movie, making remarks at different points about plot holes and memes. When the credits rolled Matt turned of the tv and turned towards his sister.

“How are you?” A cut went through his left eyebrow from his fall yesterday and he hadn’t changed out of his mismatched pyjamas. Pidge knew that he’d probably sat here and watched movies all day, maybe even a tv show or two. 

“I’m good. My head still hurts a bit, don’t know what that son of a bitch hit me with but it still stings.”

“Language Matthew.” Both turned to see their mom coming into the room. She was a lawyer and a good one at that but it meant a lot of her time was directed towards winning cases. Coleen had comeback home yesterday to find Matt on a chair, bleeding, with a mug of tea in his hand and an exasperated Pidge bandaging his leg.

“Sorry Mom.” 

“You better be. I got of work early to make sure you didn’t go around getting yourself killed on one of your missions.” 

“Mom, we’re leaving in two days. Riptide needs more training if he’s going to protect the city.” Matt stated, hoping that his mom would listen.

“He saved your asses yesterday. He doesn’t need training.” Pidge butted in. “I’ve hardly seen you and if your going in two days we have to watch at least one Harry Potter movie together.” 

It was a tradition between the siblings that whenever that were both home for at least three days they had to watch a Harry Potter movie together which they were yet to do. 

“Fine...” Matt grabbed the remote, “but I get to choose which one.” 

“Okay. We’re ordering pizza with it as well.”

“Of course.” Matt grabbed a dvd from the draw. “Prisoner of Azkaban?”

“Sure put it on.” They watched the entire movie, then the goblet of fire. At around eight they decided they still had time for order of the Phoenix before Coleen came downstairs and told them to go to bed. 

Pidge went back up stairs and went to her desk. She’d avoided doing any homework the entire night so she was going to spend another sleepless night on her computer. She grabbed the nearest piece of paper and started on her math homework. 

————————————————

Two days had passed since the movie marathon and Pidge was helping load everything into Matt’s car. Shiro and Keith were saying their goodbyes as well. 

“Don’t do anything stupid.” Matt said, slamming the boot shut with his and Shiro’s suitcase in it. 

“So don’t do anything you would do.” This earned Pidge a hard shove from her brother as they both laughed.

“I’ll be back soon.” Matt pulled her into a tight hug before heading over to say goodbye to their mother as well.

Keith came to stand next to her as the car pulled out of the driveway. “Are you ready to start the plan?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took the longest to write yet it’s probably the shortest one. I hope you enjoyed. Next chapter will be Keith POV and they’ll actually do interesting things. 
> 
> Niblings is an actual word people use for nieces and nephews so thought I’d just add that in this chapter. 
> 
>  
> 
> The last line is from as ready as I’ll ever be from tangled the series. Couldn’t think of anything else to put there.


	6. Fist fights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Powers are revealed

A week had passed since Shiro had left. A week of scheming and hanging out at Pidge’s house, trying to create their alter egos. They had come up with a lot of shitty names but knowing what Pidge’s powers were made it difficult to find one that suited her.

They constantly moved location of planning, sometimes going to the library, other times just sitting at the kitchen table. Today both sat high up in a tree near the woods at the back of Pidge’s house, legs swinging as they discussed their plan further. Keith checked his watch and saw how late it had gotten. He guessed the sun would be setting in around half an hour and if he didn’t get back before then his street would be less than friendly. 

“You ready to go back inside?” Keith began sliding across the branch to step down to the next but lost his footing. He closed his eyes, readying himself for the pain he’d surely feel when he hit the ground but it never came. Instead Keith was being held up by an unknown grip. He turned to look at Pidge and saw a smile on her face. 

She had her hands up as if she had moved to grab him but something intervened before she could. She shut her eyes for a second before pointing her fingers towards the ground. Keith was lowered to the forest floor and looked up to see Pidge doing the same thing for herself.

“Well I guess we know what powers I have then.” 

“Yeah, thanks for not letting me snap my neck.”

“I’m pretty sure you’d do the same for me. Maybe less successfully but you’d try at least.”

They continued to joke as they headed back to Pidge’s house so that he could be back before dark. Pidge headed upstairs after saying their goodbyes leaving Keith to start the walk to his apartment.

He ignored all of the drug dealers lining the streets and was able to avoid most gangs that met around his house but he was still left to face an alleyway that was always quite dodgy. He smelt the cigarette smoke and crappy beer before he saw the group blocking the way to his house. All of them wore hoodies that cast ominous shadows over there faces. Keith had half a mind to turn back and find a different way home but his pride stopped him. 

One turned around and noticed him standing there and whispered something to the tallest of the group, who was the obvious leader. “What do we have here?”

Keith tried to get past the group but was quickly stopped by one of the more threatening looking guys. “Scrawny piece of shit isn’t he. Just come back from your boyfriends house.”

Keith continued ignoring the group, they all looked like run of the mill idiots who would all end up working in McDonald’s. There was no chance they’d try anything. Or so Keith thought, one second he was standing up and the next he was lying on the cold pavement. 

A chorus of drunken laughter came from around him as the group surrounded him as if he was prey. Keith could feel his hands start to warm up as they always did before he lost control of his powers. A foot connected with his back, causing him to turn around only to be met by another foot. 

He scrambled to his feet, trying to avoid anymore bruising to either his abdomen or his ego. One of his attackers began to move towards him and the only thing Keith could think to do was fight back. A quick jab to the face nocked the hood of his head, giving Keith a clear view of the nose bleed he’d just caused. 

Someone grabbed his arms from behind, locking them to his back and making him pretty much defenseless. He tried to wriggle out of the grip but it held firm. Maybe punching one of them wasn’t the best idea he’d ever had even if it had been self defence. 

The leader of the group moved towards Keith, a sinister smile on his face and a fist pulled back ready to punch him. “This was too easy.” 

“Well he’s kinda outnumbered.” Everyone in the small circle turned to see a masked guy standing at the entrance to the alleyway. A few jaws dropped open at the sight of a superhero and one of them had enough self preservation to just sprint out of there as fast as possible. 

I’m the blink of an eye the rest of the beer that had been left on the ground near a wall covered in graffiti we’re flying through the air and hitting the gang in the head. It was quite comical seeing the people who had been about to beat him senseless screaming as they tried to run away from beer cans.

Some of the smarter people in the group realized that the cans couldn’t do much to hurt them but the rest of them where drunk idiots and followed the person with the sense to run. This left about four tipsy assholes facing off against two people with superpowers, even if Keith wouldn’t use his. 

One of them pulled out a knife and charged straight for Keith who thanked Shiro for the self defence lessons before grabbing the guys arm and twisting it. He let out a shriek and dropped his weapon on the floor. Before he could dive for the knife Keith kicked it behind him, putting himself between the guy and the blade.

A quick punch to the face had the guy stumbling backwards, giving Keith a clear view of Riptide fighting off two guys at once. He was faring as well, if not better, than Keith. The floor was still damp with rain from that morning giving Riptide the advantage. He froze the water around their feet making them even more unbalanced nod so much easier to fight. Both of them were in their asses in about five seconds and fleeing from the fight in the next.

Unfortunately for Keith, he had stopped paying attention to the guy he’d just injured for slightly to long and earned a punch. You could say it was Karma for punching people in the face but if so Keith decided that the phrase ‘Karma’s a bitch’ was the truest thing any idiot had come up with. His neck whipped backwards and he bit down on the inside of his cheek, forcing him to taste the metallic flavour of his blood. 

He backed off a bit, readying himself to take another hit from the front but Keith didn’t expect the kick to the back of the knee. It put him off balance but Keith managed to remain standing and twisted, moving his arms up and down to find who had tried to knock him over. 

The leader, who had completely slipped Keith’s mind, was greeted with flailing hands that were slowly growing warmer the longer the fight went on. He didn’t seem to happy about the invasion of his personal space as his first reaction was to try to hit him again. His instincts kicked in, telling Keith to continue dodging the blows being thrown at him. Keith simply kicked him in the shin, causing the guy to yelp and jump back. He slipped on one of the frosted part and hit the ground with an uncomfortably loud crack.

Riptide was beside the guy in a second, checking his pulse and giving Keith a small nod to tell him that he hadn’t just killed a guy. “Nice work. I’m guessing you were going to fight all of those guys of single handily before I intervened.”

Keith wasn’t sure if the superhero was joking or not. “Umm, sure. Where did the other guy go?”

“He ran a bit before you tried to kill this dude.” Riptide got an intense glare from Keith which he answered with a shit-eating grin. “You know you shouldn’t walk through this part at night. It’s dodgy”

“I live around here.”

“And by dodgy I mean... interesting. Got to love the knife welding company you can find around here.”

“That’s just hilarious. Play off a life threatening situation I was just in as if it’s usual.” Keith faced Riptide, trying to look like he knew what was going on. The hero had a somber expression on his face. “Shit, it’s usual to you isn’t it.”

“Well normally the people I save have better haircuts then you do but apart from that it happens pretty much everyday.” 

“Aren’t there villains around here to fight?” From the way Riptide laughed he could tell there wasn’t, yet. “What about criminals?”

“The police take care of the actual interesting stuff. I don’t think there too keen on a teenager in a glorified swimsuit stealing there thunder. I decided to look after the places they can’t see, they don’t care about thugs like these who are ready to beat someone to death unless they do commit a murder.” Keith remembered the knife that had been meant to go in his chest. They may have been drunk but even vodka couldn’t mess up your moral system so much that you were willing to kill them.

“Well I’ve got to take this guy and dump him outside the station.” Riptide gave him a quick look up and down. “Tell-“

“Tell what?”

“Nothing.” He then grabbed the gang leader and flung him over one of his shoulders. He stumbled under the weight and dropped the guy on the floor before using water to levitate him from handcuffs. “Meant to do that.”

Keith chuckled and continued down the now deserted streets. The only sounds were the hum of the street lamp and the occasional muttered curse as Keith put to much weight on one of his legs. It took five minutes to get to the run down apartment block and another three to get up the ten flights of stairs with an injured leg and no energy. 

Once Keith unlocked the door and stumbled to his bed he flopped on it, not even bothering to take his shoes off, and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was going to actually have them as superheroes but I guess the plan changed. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed


	7. Our first battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is on patrol and noticed some weird activity in a nearby building. He goes to check it out and is faced by two new enemies.

The street lamps cast an eerie glow over the streets that Lance was looking over. Even though Lance had been sitting up there for half an hour he hadn’t gotten cold yet. Nothing interesting had happened for a while now, he’d helped an old lady cross the road a bit a go and got a cat out of a tree but he didn’t really count those things as something a superhero would do.

Lance continued to swing his legs from the top of the apartment building. No one had walked past his hiding spot since he’d arrived and he was about to call it quits and head home when he noticed something in a company building across from him. Two figures were standing near the window, in an argument about something. The thing is Lance had seen all of the workers leave the building while passing by before and highly doubted that anyone would be allowed in at this time.

He could leave it for the police but Lance was pretty sure the pair would be gone by the time they arrived. He stood up and headed back to the fire exit he’d used to get up there to return to the ground and raced towards the building opposite where he was just sitting. The door had been left open and the cameras faced the floor as if someone had hacked into them before hand.

Lance opted to take the elevator instead of the stairs, he wanted to be able to breathe when he did get to their floor and stepping out of the elevator would have been a lot more badass then opening a door. Music played over the speakers, he was going to start singing along but the lift doors opening stopped him. 

In front of him two people were stood facing a computer screen as one of them typed away at the keyboard. They seemed too focused on whatever they were doing to notice him so he kind of just leant against a wall, trying to think of a comment to say when he wanted their attention. 

“And done,let’s get out of here.” The smaller of the pair’s hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and she had a balaclava pulled up just under her eyes. Black combat boots adorned her feet and she had three quarter leggings on, who even where’s those? Her top was a dark green turtleneck with a jacket of the same colour to keep out the nights breeze. 

Her accomplice, on the other hand, wore a hoodie underneath a leather jacket and a mask very similar to Lance’s. He had relatively baggy trousers on and boots just like his friend’s. 

“You know this is a pretty weird place to have a date.” Lance decided to let them know he was there. He knew he’d caught them off guard as both their heads whipped round to face him. 

“We’re not together, well obviously we’re like partners but not romantic partners.” The dude stumbled over his words, he seemed to have taken Lance’s joke literally. 

“Dude, he was joking.” The girl hit his arm and and then turned to look at him. “I’m guessing your Riptide then.”

“No, I’m just stopping by a costume party.” His voice was laced with sarcasm, he needed to keep both of them talking while he summoned some water to make there handcuffs. He focused on the water fountain near by and started to let the water leak through the tap. “We can do this in two ways, and I’m really not feeling like fighting today. Just put your hands in front of you.”

The girl began to do what he said but then flipped him off. Her friend had an eyebrow raised as if saying ‘you really think you could take me’. Lance looked at the pair and thought how hard could it be, neither of them had powers and it wasn’t like they could break ice with their bare hands.

Lance used the water, sending it straight into the guys face (and probably ruining the guy liner he wore under the hood) and watching as the guy stumbled back. When his arms had uncrossed another snake of water flew out the tap and surrounded his wrists before they were frozen into place. 

A laugh rang out and he looked and saw the girl standing there and Lance could just tell she was smiling underneath the fabric covering her face. He was about to ask her what was so funny but was stopped when a fist slammed into his face. It was more surprising than painful, he was looking at his only free opponent and felt rather relaxed in the situation.

Lance backed off, trying to locate his attacker but only saw the two who were there before. His gaze dropped to the guys wrists, that had once again found themselves crossed across his chest, showing off the lack of handcuffs even though Lance had been sure they’d been there a moment before. The guy smirked and let his hand be engulfed by a flame which Lance promptly tried to put out. It worked but the guy quickly ignited it for a second time. 

Lance avoided a punch that seemed to sizzle out just before hitting where his face would have been five seconds ago. He was pretty sure that his attacker wasn’t trying to kill him but that didn’t make him less dangerous, it only took one badly timed move for Lance to find he had a nasty second degree burn on his cheek. 

Barely dodging another hit being thrown at him, Lance scrambled around the office to reach a safe haven. His mind started working at double pace, trying to figure out how to stop the threat chasing after him literally holding fire in his hand. The plan he came up with was either pure genius or the most stupid thing he’d ever but he put it into action anyway.

She was still leaning over the computer when he literally picked her up. She was a full head shorter than him and weighed as much as a feather but she was also protection from the fire punching dude. He put her between them and prayed that the guy actually gave a fuck about the girl. 

A yelp rang around the room as the girl tried, unsuccessfully, to kick her way out of Lance’s vice like grip. “What the fuck? Get off me.”

“Sorry princess.”

“Did you just call me Princess?” The girls outrage grew the longer Lance kept her in the air and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go back to nearly being hit by a hand on fire. Her hair tickled his nose as her ponytail moved side to side and he was happy that no one could see the blush forming on his face. The girl was sought of cute. You know in a like ‘this girl could murder me and I’d probably thank her’ kind of way. 

While Lance was thinking he didn’t notice a vine from one of the desk plants encircling his ankle till it pulled him backwards and off balance. The girl took this as an opportunity to twist his wrist uncomfortably, forcing Lance to let her go as he tried to right himself. She then proceeded to knee him in the gut and walk back to the other side of the room as more vines insnared his limbs.

Water slammed into the girls face, much like it did with her accomplice, and broke her concentration on the plants keeping Lance in place. He brought some water into his hand and froze the water in a dagger like shape. Each time a new vine came at him he sliced it in half, leaving it uselessly lying on the floor and infuriating the girl slightly more each time. She kept her gaze on him each time she attempted to attack him and looked about ready to murder him. 

Lance sent a blast of water at her, which she dodged easily but didn’t expect to be hit by a second straight after. She stumbled again and slid behind a desk to take cover from any other blows Lance intended to hit her with. He was about to follow her when his head was slammed into the desk from behind.

Nose bleeding, Lance moved away from his attacker for what felt like the fifth time that night. He turned to see fire guy there again, he’d been so focused on the shorter of the two that he’d totally forgotten about the one who could burn his face off. Probably not the smartest thing he’d ever done. 

Lance expected to face another punch but hoodie dude ran in the opposite direction and caught something that his friend threw at him. They both headed for the stair door and started to sprint down them, a confused Lance trying to keep up with them. By the time he reached the ground floor they were already on the streets, turning the corner of an alleyway and leaving him in their dust. 

He continued his chase until he finally lost complete track of them and was forced to go home. He slipped through his street and climbed over his conveniently low back fence into his mother’s garden, trying his best to avoid crushing any of her forget-me-nots. Lance stumbled towards his old tree house and climbed up the rope ladder to the platform on top. Their he changed into his pyjamas and hid his costume inside one of the throw cushions Veronica had added when they were small. He then slid across the branch to the flat platform just before his unlocked window, he was basically on the ceiling of his kitchen and hoped his mom wasn’t in their, hearing every step he took. He opened his window and slipped inside his room only to be met by a figure standing at the door. 

Veronica looked him over to see if he had any obvious injuries and took a step forward when she saw he didn’t. “Lance, you said you’d be back an hour ago. I was tempted to tell mom where you were.” Veronica said but when she saw a betrayed expression cross her little brother’s face she reassured him that she would continue to keep his secret. 

Finally deciding Lance wasn’t going to die from any injuries he’d sustained from the battle Veronica gave him a hug then ordered him to go to bed. Lance ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth and rushed back to his bedroom, he wasn’t sure how Pidge lasted on less sleep than he had been getting lately everyday because as soon as his head touched his pillow he was out like a light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Next chapter will finally be from Hunks point of view and I’m so sorry for keeping our favorite boy in the shadows for the series so far. He will become a lot more prominent after this chapter. Hope you enjoyed that and I’m so sorry about school to all of you who are facing it at the moment.


	8. Bear hugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk finds out something and decides to help.

Hunk checked his phone again, Lance had said to meet him at their local Starbucks but he still hadn’t arrived yet. Hunk took another sip from his almost empty cup and turned to the door as it opened, once again he was greeted with the sight of an unfamiliar face and doubt that Lance was actually coming. 

He’d been distant lately: not sharing every single thought that popped into his head, which Hunk wasn’t entirely sure was a bad thing, and not flirting with as many girls. Hunk felt a sense of duty to find out what was wrong with his best friend and had immediately accepted when he’d asked to meet there. 

Hunk nearly jumped when a hand was placed on his back “Hey Hunky,” Lance had snuck in when he was on his phone but Hunk was just happy to see his friend. “Can we head over to your house?”

“Sure.” Hunks parents were away on a business trip leaving the house in the hands of a teenager and two kids. “Why?”

“I need to talk to you about something.” Hunk was still confused but accepted anyway, grabbing his cup and draining what was left of his drink he walked out the coffee shop and began the familiar journey back to his house. Lance was fiddling with his hands and kept avoiding Hunk’s eye; his usual smile and complete openness gone without a trace. Hunk’s anxiety began to rise as they approached his house and headed straight for the games room. 

Hunk’s mom was a chef who had a few cooking books out while his dad was a surgeon who had climbed the rank to attending pretty quickly. They were both out on special business at the moment so Hunk’s sister came to house sit (or in other words make sure Hunk didn’t burn it to the ground during a culinary experiment) but her and her kids were out, probably at the local zoo, leaving the house empty except for the two of them. 

“So what do you want to talk about.” Hunk finally let his curiosity show, if one of his friends were said than Hunk would probably drop all his issues to go cheer them up; no matter what he had to do to do it. One time he had hacked into Keith’s social media accounts to find out where he lived after some asshole had said something about his parents and ended up being hit by a pretty impressive right hook. 

“Umm- I’ve... I.” Lance took a long breath while running the back of his neck. Hunk didn’t interrupt him, opting for a supportive nod instead, and continued to wait patiently for Lance to tell him what had been bugging him lately. “It’s easier if I show you.”

Hunk followed his friend into the kitchen, his confusion growing every step they took towards the room. Lance moved to the sink and turned the faucet on, letting the water flow. He closed his eyes for a minute and then looked at the water, twisting his hand as he did. The liquid coming from the tap copied his hand and arched to the side before being frozen in midair. 

Hunk just stood there for a moment, looking between the ice and his friend and letting what he had just seen sink in. After a few seconds he walked straight over to Lance and trapped him in a giant bear hug, ignoring the sour taste in his mouth, and putting all his effort into smiling. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Nobody knew.” Lance, now able to breathe after Hunk had freed him from their embrace, moved towards the kitchen table and pulled his chair out. “I mean except for Veronica but I didn’t tell her, she kinda found my suit lying around.”

“My best friend is Riptide. My best friend is legit a superhero. And I didn’t notice.” Hunk felt his stomach fill with guilt, how could he be so oblivious. “How long?”

“I got my powers a bit after my fifteenth, if that’s what your asking. Me and Rachel were in the middle of a water balloon fight and one was about to hit my face and then it just kind of stopped an inch from my face. I don’t think anyone but me noticed.” 

“Wait... so you took that dude down, single handily, and saved both Blade and Python.”

“Yeah,” Lance seemed to be trying to work out what to say next, he had gone back to messing with his hands. 

“And had your ass handed to you by the pair yesterday.” Hunk was surprised by how quickly Lance could whip his head round to look directly at him. 

“You guys know about that?”

“Dude, everyone knows. Haven’t you gone on tumblr in the past 24 hours?”

“I’ll check it when I get home. I kinda just dropped asleep the moment I got back.” Hunk felt a twang if guilt run through his stomach, Lance had needed someone there to watch his back and had been beat up instead. Ideas swam around his head until he caught one that made sense. 

“You know Spider-Man.” This caught Lance’s attention, he was probably thinking what are you talking about. 

“Which one?” 

“Holland.” 

“I made you watch it fifty times Hunk. He’s undoubtedly the best Spider-Man.”

“Controversial but whatever,” Hunk took a deep breath, not entirely sure whether or not he actually wanted to say the next few words. “I want to be your Ned, the guy in the chair.” 

“Your kidding. I don’t want to bring you into all this mess.” 

“Lance if you were hurt out there what would you do unless there was someone to get help.” Hunk let all his concern flood into his voice. “Also an extra pair of eyes will be useful. I’m guessing you ran into the building without thinking, went up to the office and just fought them with absolutely no plan.”

“Well yes. But that’s not the-“

“Lance you are going to die if you don’t have someone in your corner. I’m not the greatest hacker in the world but I’m decent at it.” Hunk’s eyes were starting to light up with excitement, he’d dreamed of being super since he was a kid. If he couldn’t be it himself at least he could help his friend with his powers.

“Fine,” Hunk rapped him in another bear hug, his face split in a massive grin. He might not have superpowers but he could look out for Lance, and that was all that mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. I have finally linked Hunk into the main fic so it’s so much easier to write from his point of view. I hope you enjoyed this and good luck if you’re starting school again.


	9. The Old Times Are Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura comes back front New York with a suprise for her friends.

They sat next to each other, hands intertwined and smiles on their faces. Allura couldn’t wait to introduce her new boyfriend to her friends. She was already guessing how they would react to him. Pidge would probably be passive about it, she wasn’t one for boy talk but she made up for that by being the only person who was completely honest with her. Hunk would be supportive, as always. He wasn’t one for drama either and Allura was pretty sure that Shay had been feeding him information about her love life over their daily Skype chats. Keith would keep his opinion to himself, even if he absolutely despised her partner. He was not the kind to openly speak before he got the entire story. 

Allura wasn’t worried about those three but just the thought of arriving there with Lotor to see Lance’s face fall was painful. She had known for a long time that he had a crush on her but she wasn’t sure if the three months apart had stopped his infatuation or fuelled it further. She knew she would not reciprocate his feelings and had let him down easy on many occasions but she wasn’t sure he completely understood why she wasn’t interested. 

“Everything alright?” Allura turned to see Lotor flashing his winning smile that made her heart skip a beat each time she saw it.

“Fine, just excited for you to meet my friends.” Allura squeezed his hand in reassurance, though she wasn’t sure whether it was more for him or herself, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. 

“You think they’re going to like me.” 

“Oh, no. Definitely not. They’re all going to absolutely despise you.” Even though her voice was dripping with sarcasm she wasn’t sure whether what she was saying was true or not. 

“That’s good to know. Is there any chance of a homicide.”

“If you piss Keith or Pidge off enough than maybe.” 

“All these comments are really comforting, I’m imagining a bunch of man eating lions right now.” Allura laughed and leaned her head against Lotor’s shoulder, she was still nervous about introducing them but if he was at her side she was pretty sure that it would go well. 

————————————————

The moment the car door opened Allura sprinted out and into Coran’s awaiting hug. She had missed his comforting presence at the Manor House but she knew that finishing off the school year here was a top priority to him. “Allura, I’m so glad you’re back.”

“Me too Coran. The house has felt empty without you there.” 

“How’s your Father?” Coran had obviously been waiting to aske her this since she got out of the car but it was the question she wanted to avoid the most. 

“Not doing so well. They still can’t figure out what’s wrong with him. His body is there on the table battling the illness but I feel like his mind is in another body completely.” Allura’s father had been found unconscious on a street six months ago. They’d been able to revive him but his memories were little more than wisps of smoke that he tried to catch. Allura noticed how empty of emotion his eyes were, the normal joy there having vanished nearly completely. It pained her to say it but she knew that the man dying in the hospital back in New York wasn’t really her father, her father had died in that street six months ago. 

“He’s going to make it Allura.” 

“Thank you Coran,” She felt something wet roll down her face and quickly swiped away the tears. Her father wouldn’t want her crying over him, he’d want her to keep her head high and show that nothing could get to her. “I want to introduce you to someone. Coran this is Lotor.”

Allura’s heart rate had doubled and she already felt her palms go sweaty. To her relief, Coran’s first reaction wasn’t to grill Lotor on any subjects but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to in the near future. 

“I think we should take our stuff up to our rooms,” Allura grabbed her suitcase and carried it up to her old bedroom. She looked at the familiar blue wallpaper and found her self relaxing. It was exactly the same as she had left it, her corkscrew board still had reminders from six months ago pinned on it and she was certain that if you moved one of her strategically placed throw pillows you would see the bright blue stain from the time that her and Pidge had tried hair chalk. 

Her attention was brought to her phone when it vibrated in her pocket. Hunk had sent her a text, telling her that he’d got everyone to come to the park and they were just waiting on her to join them. She smiled before replying that she’d be there in a second and running to the spare bedroom where Lotor would be staying. “Hey, my friends are at the park. Are you ready to meet them?” 

“You go ahead. I’ll catch up with you later.” Lotor was unpacking his bags already but she wasn’t sure if he was just delaying the inevitable future of being ridiculed by her friends. 

“See you later then.” 

“See you.”

Allura ran down the stairs, saying goodbye to Coran as she did, and began the familiar journey to their old meet up spot. 

————————————————

“Hunk, What did you want to show us?” Allura smiled at the sound of Pidge’s exasperated voice. She had only told Hunk she was coming back and was thankful that he had managed to keep her arriving a secret. 

“Just wait and see,” Hunk had them facing the opposite direction to where she stood between the trees, giving her a perfect opportunity to sneak up on them from behind. 

“Could you just tell us what we’re looking for?” Lance stood next to the pair, probably squinting, looking across the park.

“Yes,I would like to know as well.” All four of them whipped their heads round to see Allura standing there. The looks on their faces were priceless and she couldn’t help but laugh. 

“You’re back,” Lance practically screamed in her face, he then turned to Pidge and started shouting it at her as well. “Allura’s back.”

“Really, I hadn’t noticed.” Pidge’s sarcastic comment couldn’t hide her smile as Allura moved towards the group. “I thought you weren’t coming back until the summer,”

“Change of plans, our school had a blackout yesterday so they let us have Monday and Tuesday off while they try to sort it out.” 

Hunk opened his mouth to start talking but instead looked at something behind Allura in confusion. She turned and realized he was staring at Lotor and gave her friend a small reassuring smile.

“There’s someone I’d like you guys to meet.” She took a deep breath, preparing herself for the worst reactions possible, and looked at all her friends. She’d known them for 3 years even if her moving had put a slight dent in their relationships, she knew they’d all try to respect her decision. “Guys, this is Lotor. My boyfriend.”

The smiles dropped from all of their faces, even Hunk’s (she’d been sure he knew about Lotor), and the mood seemed to get worse the closer Lotor got to the group. Keith was the first to overcome his shock and quickly hid the emotion from his features, turning to Lotor to see him stand there awkwardly. Pidge was next but she didn’t try to hide the disdain that she obviously felt for Lotor.

Allura turned to her remaining two friends, needing to know their reaction to her new boyfriend, and was shocked to see how different their reactions were. Hunk had already started to move forward to greet Lotor, a highly persuasive smile on his face that would’ve fooled anyone who hadn’t known Hunk for a long time. On the other hand, Lance was staring daggers at the man in front of him, he looked poised to commit a murder. In a few moments all the anger washed out of his eyes and was replaced by a look of pure sadness. Allura decided that she would rather have him stay angry than have a look of complete despair cross his face: even worse if she was the one that caused it. 

She introduced them all to each other and quickly changed the subject to the carnival that was going to take place tomorrow night. All of them agreed they would meet up there and said their farewells. When all four of her friends and left Allura turned to Lotor, a grimace on her face. “That could have gone better.”

Lotor gave out a hearty laugh and put his arm around her shoulders, “You’re telling me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now Allura’s in the story. The chapters are probably going to start coming out less frequently as I have school now but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter will be Pidge’s point of view at the carnival.


	10. Freckles and constellations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group heads to the fair

“I’m still pissed at you. Why didn’t you tell me that Allura had a boyfriend?” Pidge had finished her science homework a few seconds ago and put all her attention into her conversation with Matt. She’d tried her best to hide the bruise she’d gotten near her temple by moving her hair but she wasn’t sure if it had worked as well as she hoped it had. 

“I didn’t think you would care. You were never into gossip,”

“I’m into it if it standing there with my mouth wide open like an absolute idiot.” Pidge dropped down on her bed and gave Matt a straight stare for a minute then started laughing. “I miss you. It’s my first Garrison Carnival without you, it’s like a tradition.”

“I really wish I could be there but I’ve got tests tomorrow and if I don’t stay here and revise I’m going to flunk them. Is everyone else going to the carnival?” 

“Yeah, including Lotor.” Pidge tried not to let the hate come through in her voice, if Allura had chosen him he must be a decent person, but no matter how she tried not to despise him it always failed. She wasn’t even sure why, but just the memory of Lance’s face when he saw him made her want to kill a bitch. 

“He’s a decent guy. Well I think he is, we haven’t talked that much but when we did he seemed safe.” Matt gave her a small smile over the FaceTime. She new that he was trying to comfort her but it was failing. “I’ve got to go study with Shiro. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Bye.” Pidge ended the call and put her phone down on her bed, she looked at the time and groaned. She still had an hour to wait before Lance picked her up and they headed to the carnival and absolutely nothing to do. 

Sighing loudly, she headed down stairs towards the lounge with plans to just watch a load of junk on tv for the remaining time she had to wait. Her mom was still at the office so actually being social was out of the question and she decided that watching two episodes of friends would be an hour well spent. 

————————————————

Pidge raced out the door and slid into the back seat of the blue Honda that belonged to Lance’s sister Rachel. Hunk sat shotgun while Lance sat behind the wheel, tapping his fingers along to the beat of the song that was currently playing on his car radio. “Hey.”

“Hey. Are you ready for the greatest night of the year?” Lance always got overexcited at the mere thought of the fair coming into town but his voice lacked any enthusiasm at the moment. Him being hung up over Allura could put a real damper on the day for the entire group.

Pidge tried to stifle her snort when she saw Hunk roll his eyes. “You said the best night of the year was Halloween yesterday, Lance.”

“Well, Hunky-Hunk, we can’t always live in the past. Pidge, you’ve got to agree with me. Tonight is going to be great.” 

“If we go on one of the actual rides than yes.” Pidge looked at her two friends and saw two completely opposite expressions on both their faces. While Lance’s face had twisted into a big goofy smile, Hunks had a look of fear crossing his. Although he’d got better had controlling his gastrointestinal issues he still couldn’t go on very fast pace rides without vomiting. Cursing herself for forgetting her friends, she quickly added in, “that’s only if you want. I can just go on with Keith if you guys aren’t up for it.”

Lance quickly stated that he wanted to go on it but she ignored him, instead focusing on Hunk’s face that somehow told her sorry and thank you at the same time. Pidge chuckled under her breath before trying to pickup whatever Lance had been saying before. 

“-My mom said that she couldn’t do that under her roof so Rachel walked straight out the house and chugged the entire thing.” Lance began laughing at his own story but stopped as soon as the next song came on. 

Pidge groaned as the starting notes of a thousand miles played over the cars stereo. Lance had already started to sing the first line and Pidge was just about ready to hit her head against his seat till he stopped or she knocked herself unconscious. It wasn’t that Lance was a bad singer, actually it was the complete opposite, when he tried Lance could sing like an angel, it was that he put in an over exaggerated voice in this one song. 

Luckily for her Lance was extremely fickle when it came to music and after the chorus finished he asked Hunk to skip to the next song. She was pretty certain she heard a sigh of relief from her friend before he changed the song but thought best not to put that thought out there. 

It took them a further three minutes to get to Keith’s apartment, the traffic in the rougher areas was slightly horrendous, and Pidge was relieved to slip out the car and head towards the large building. She pressed the buzzer and leant against the wall like she normally did at the start of the day.

Pidge stood there for a minute, surprisingly finding comfort in the cold breeze rushing against her bare arm. Keith normally took a while to get out at the start of the day (Pidge was pretty sure he was just disorganized but he swore she was impatient) so it was a surprise when he came down within a minute of her pressing the bell. “Hey douche bag.”

“What’s up Asshole. Am I the last pickup?” 

“Yeah, Lotor and Allura are traveling on their own,” Pidge was proud of how neutral she kept her voice while saying this.

“Cool, how much do you bet that Lance is singing Despacito at the moment?” Pidge laughed loudly and headed back to the car, Keith trailing slightly behind. 

————————————————

“You only want to listen to them because you have a crush on Brendon Urie.” Lance had had complete control over the stereo for the past half an hour and now Keith was revolting 

“I mean no matter what your sexuality is you’ve got to have a small crush on Brendon.” Pidge cut into the conversation, her and Hunk had been the moderators for a while, trying to keep Lance’s attention on the road and Keith’s attention on something other than punching their driver in the face. 

The pair both gave agreed and stopped arguing for a few minutes but they all knew that the peace in the car would be broken in seconds. Pidge relaxed slightly and stared out the window, eyes searching the vast green landscape around them. She caught sight of lights in the distance and cranes her neck to try spot the rides that were slowly getting closer. 

It took them another five minutes to get to the stretch of land that was being used as a temporary car park and two more to actually get a parking space. Still, the electric atmosphere of the people already there buzzed around the group of friends, adding to their already rising excitement. 

“Hey guys,” they all turned to see Allura coming towards them with Lotor following just behind her. She was clutching a drink in one hand and a small, bubble gum pink teddy bear in the other, a gift that Pidge suspected Lotor had won for her at one of the stalls.

All said their greetings and started moving towards the centre of the carnival, home to all the fast paced rides that the carnival housed. Pidge did a mental head count to work out how many of them would be going on the rides, immediately knowing that Hunk would most likely prefer to die than go on that ride and deciding that he would be trusted with her bag. 

“Pidge,” A hand grabbed onto Pidge’s arm and she turned to see Allura standing behind her, “Would it be okay if me and Lotor go off for a bit and meet you up later?”

Pidge was tempted to say no, of all the places to ditch them for some quality time with her boyfriend it had to be where they first met, but after a moment of quick deliberation she knew that refusing would only make them want to go more. “Umm sure. See you in a while.”

“Bye,” Allura muttered before turning around and disappearing into the fast moving crowd. Pidge turned around to go catch up with her friends when she spotted Lance doubling back, as if waiting for her, and headed straight for him. 

“What’s wrong?” Pidge knew he was most likely angry at her for letting Allura go but logically it was best to get them away. If Lance had his mind stuck on his crush he made say something completely idiotic and get punched, ruining the drive home completely.

“Pidge, do you want me to win you one of those stuffed animals?” At even the thought of the idea, she burst out laughing. “What?”

“I’ve got two reasons for you. 1 I don’t exactly want to be used as a tool so that you can get over Allura or to make her jealous. 2 I’d much rather spend your money on something useful.”

“Like what?” 

Pidge’s smile grew as she pointed towards the ride that drew her attention the minute she walked into the park. The ride was currently moving at top speed, flipping the people over and over and spreading the noise of high pitched screeches across the fair. “That.”

A smile grew on Lance’s face at the same time, both looking towards the prime attraction of the carnival. “We should probably call the other two, tell them where we are.”

“Yeah,” Pidge reached into her pocket, searching for her phone that wasn’t there. “Shit, my phones in my bag, Hunks got my phone.”

Pidge’s gaze landed on Lance’s face, hope welling up in her stomach like a balloon. “I gave my phone to Hunk as well.”

“Well, there is no point waiting around for them to find us is there,” Pidge grabbed Lance’s hand, ignoring the slight leap her stomach did when her skin met his, and dragged him towards the ride, “Let’s do this.”

————————————————

Pidge stared up at the ride as they neared the entrance, eyes sparkling with anticipation. There were roughly two cycles before her and Lance would be strapped in and ready to be flipped upside down multiple times. They’d been waiting for fifteen minutes and both had decided that if they did see their friends that would stay in the queue, the line had grown far longer since they’d joined it and waiting any longer would be hell for both of them. 

“Are you ready Pidgey?” Lance brought her attention back to him as the line once against moved forward and the pair got closer to the front of it. 

“When wouldn’t I be? I’ve been waiting to go on this all year.” She let herself smile at him, feeling so far away from any of the super power shit that had plagued her thoughts for the last few weeks. While she had dreamt about getting her powers for most of her life it felt good to act like a normal teen again. Well as normal as a teen who hacked into the government security when she was only ten could feel. 

“I know, but if you get scared you can always hold my hand,” Pidge rolled her eyes but couldn’t help a smile spreading across her face. “I’m not hearing a no.”

Pidge slapped his arm softly and heard his comical reaction to this, “I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine. You on, the other hand, are probably going to sound like a screaming toddler.” 

“We’ll find out right now, my dear Pigeon.” They were now standings the front of the line as the machine came to a gradual stop. Both raced up the stairs, putting the money on the operators desk as they went past, and headed towards the empty seats ahead of them. 

Pidge removed her glasses and placed them next to Lance’s shoes-why he felt the need to take them of she wasn’t sure- and sat down next to Lance, heart beating fast in anticipation. The guy running the ride came towards them and locked their harnesses in place before giving both a thumbs up and heading back towards his box 

Pidge was about to ask Lance if he was ready but was shut up by the sudden swing of the ride as it began to build momentum. The longer it did this, the higher it went until they were sat on the very top of the ride, a clear view of the surrounding landscape and the groups of people below, who all looked like ants from up this high.

Something brushing her skin brought her attention back to their current situation, Lance’s hand was next to hers as if he was going to take a hold of it. As quickly as she could, she grabbed his palm and gave it a slight squeeze and giving him a smile full of pure happiness before the ride tipped them forward. 

————————————————

“That was brilliant, absolutely brilliant.” Still dizzy from the ride they’d left a minute ago, Pidge and Lance moved out of the way of the crowd, hoping to spot a familiar face in between all the strangers they passed. 

“I know, when we flipped and you started screaming,” Pidge gave him a questioning glance, “and by that I mean I started screaming.”

Pidge let out another snort at this, the last two hours had been filled with her awkward laugh, and felt herself relax even more. “That is the first correct thing you’ve said in years Lance.” 

The pair rounded a corner only to see two familiar faces standing there. Allura’s arm was hooked around Lotor’s neck as they stood together, Pidge only saw it from a far but she got the gist of the situation and decided that it was probably a good idea to get Lance out of there. 

“Come on,” she muttered, grabbing Lance’s arm and pulling him away from the scene of his crush kissing someone else. They walked away from the alley, passed all the attractions they’d just been on, until they reached a less populated area of the fair. 

Hearing a gasp beside her, Pidge turned her head only to see Lance staring up at the sky, a smile on his lips. Her gaze followed his and caught the same breathtaking view his did. They’d walked far enough away from the lights behind them that they could clearly see the stars up above, the deep blue sky completely cloudless and the moon shining down on them. Pidge wasn’t afraid to admit that she could name every single constellations that shone above her head.

“It’s really beautiful,” Lance broke his focus on the sky for a minute, instead letting it landon Pidge’s face then moving to the writing on her tank top. 

His laugh broke Pidge out of her slight trance as she gave him a questioning glare, “What’s so funny?” 

“It’s just your shirt, freckles and constellation.” Pidge looked at him again, trying desperately to work out what the fuck Lance was talking about, “We have the constellation,” he brandished towards the sky, “and you have the freckles.” His long finger tapped her nose before she could react.

“Amazing Lance, really.” Pidge’s usual sarcasm replaced her confusion as she decided to just sit down there. “If you want to rant about Allura then go ahead.”

“Allura- Yeah. Honestly I’ve known she wasn’t into me for ages but I can’t seem to get over her. Like ever. And now she comes back with that Coleslaw dude and doesn’t even talk to us. She ditched us. And it’s not just that, she ditched us here of all places,” Lance made a point to brandish around them but it was unnecessary, Pidge knew exactly what he meant. This had been the place they all came to once a year, this had been the place where they’d first met her. 

Pidge was about to say something but Lance continued on with his rant, “Also what the hell does Lotor have that I don’t? I get I’m not the smartest person but I try, I try so hard and I get nowhere.”

Pidge was half tempted to say the ability to shut up but decided against it, she couldn’t kick him while he was already down. “Lance, your comparing yourself to a guy who looks like a fucking L’Oréal model. You know that your great, your funny, your kind and your absolutely fucking brilliant.”

“Pidge, That was surprisingly sweet.”

“I can be nice when I want to be.” Pidge shrugged, attempting to stifle a shiver as the cold wind brushed against her arms. 

“You cold?” Pidge was about to admit that she was but her pride got the better of her.

“Nope,” 

“I can see goosebumps on your arm Pidgin. Do you want to take my jacket?” He took it of and dropped it into the smaller of the twos lap before she even had time to say anything. 

Pidge mumbled something about not needing it but pulled it on anyway. The jacket swamped her, reaching down past her waist and the sleeves hiding her hands from sight. 

“There you guys are,” Lance and Pidge whipped their heads around to see Keith and Hunk coming towards them, both looking both annoyed and relieved at the same time. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

Pidge scrambled to her feet, suddenly realising how close her and Lance had been sitting only a second ago, and went to go meet her friends, “Sorry, I left my phone in my bag and... well I guess you figured that out.”

“Yeah, we did.” Keith said, looking between the two, gaze full of suspicion. “Did you guys spend the last two hours stargazing?” 

Pidge was going to answer but was quickly cut off by Lance, “We went on some rides before coming over here. I may not have had my phone but I still had some money on me.”

“That reminds me,” Pidge reached into her bag, that she’d recently grabbed of Hunk, and offered Lance a twenty dollar note and his phone.

“Thanks,” He said taking both out her hand and smiled at her. Heart thundering, Pidge smiled back before turning to start a conversation with Keith. 

“What did you actually do then?” With Hunk being scared of rides, it was highly unlikely that Keith had managed to go on any rides that went faster then five miles per hour.

“We met up with one of Shay’s friends and their brother.” Keith said, turning his head to Hunk, “What was her name?” 

“Romelle,” Hunk called back.

A smile crossed Pidge’s face at the sound of her Calculus buddy, “Cool, I’m guessing you and her went on the rides.” 

“Yeah.” They started walking back towards the car park, the fair was going to close in half an hour and it would be better to beat the traffic, passing the rides they’d just been on as they went. “I better get control of the music. If I hear one more crappy 2000s song I swear I’m going to cut a bitch.”

“As apposed to emo music from the 2000s,” Pidge deadpanned.

“Well you see, I said crappy. Alternative music is fucking art.” 

Pidge snorted surprisingly loudly, bringing both Hunk and Lance’s attention to the pair. “If your planning on choosing the music, you have another thing coming mullet boy.”

“Really Lance, ‘Mullet boy’. What are you, five?” The two got into their same old fight, ironically both sounding like five year olds as they repeated insults back at each other. 

After a few minutes Hunk gave up and proclaimed that he would in fact choose the music, shutting both of them up and saving Pidge from giving either of them a black eye. 

Just as the argument ended they reached the car and sat down in the same places they had originally. Calming jazz music filled the car, completely contrasting with the hectic mess that it had been while driving up here. Snuggling deeper into her jacket, a smile crossed Pidge’s face.

————————————————

“This is your stop.” Lance turned round in his seat to look at Pidge. 

“Why thank you for reminding me where I live Lance. Don’t know what I’d do without you.” Sarcasm laced Pidge’s voice as she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door. “See you tomorrow Lance.” 

“Bye Pidge,” Lance pulled out of her driveway, practically screaming the words out of his car window. Rolling her eyes, she opened the door to her house and called to see if her mom had got home early. Unsurprisingly, there was no response. 

Pidge went to take off her shoes but was greeted by a long piece of fabric instead of her hands. With a laugh, she realized that she was still wearing Lance’s jacket. She took it and her shoes off before heading upstairs and falling back on her bed and closing her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and sorry the update took so long. I really wasn’t ready for the amount of homework I had and also got writers block halfway through writing this chapter. Freckles and Constellations is a song by Dodie and it fits so well with Plance. Then again most Dodie songs do fit well with Plance. I’ll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible and I hope you enjoyed it.


	11. Behind a screen.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk’s point of view during a fight.

Damn Lance, damn the memory stick he’d stolen, damn the two people following him and damn Hunk for getting himself into this mess.

Hunk’s fingers jumped from key to key again and again as his pulse quickened. He tried to hack the surveillance camera a second time, ignoring how sweaty his palms were, and managed to get the full image onto Lance’s laptop screen. 

“Got it,” he spoke into the microphone at his mouth that he usually used for online video games but was now connected to the ear piece that was securely hooked in Lance’s ear. “Neither of them are coming for you yet, rest for a bit.” 

A shallow breath was the only reply Hunk got for a few seconds as Lance took his time to get his energy back. “Thanks dude, don’t know what I’d do without you.” 

“Probably die.” Hunk said, eyes glued to the images in front of him. Neither of the two people who had just been chasing his friend appeared on the screen but that didn’t stop his anxiety from growing as each second passed. 

“You got that right buddy,” a slight chuckle came from the other end of the call. “I mean if you hadn’t-“ 

“They’re heading towards you now.” Hunk cut his friend off as the two figures headed in his direction. They split off, obviously trying to take him by surprise on both sides. “One If them is going to distract you while the other comes round the back, I’ll tell you when they are close enough to get you.” 

The taller of the pair, or WildFire as he was now being called online, hands blazed as he moved towards Lance but Hunk didn’t miss the vines that were slowly making there way towards Lance’s ankles, “Lance, feet.” 

The tiny version of his friend quickly jumped out the way of the vine before it could catch a hold of him and headed straight for WildFire, surprising him with a quick kick to the shin and a blow to the head before turning to face his next opponent. 

“Lance, just run.” Hunk said over the headset as Lance ran through the ally way. “You can’t face these two by yourself without dying.” 

“Have either of them actually landed a blow on me. No, I’m completely fine and if this memory stick has something on it that can prove that they murdered him.” Lance started ranting about his theory while Hunk continued his search for the smaller of the pair. He picked up on a movement in the corner of the screen and quickly relayed the information to Lance, who had finished talking and was now looking around him. 

“Over here asshole.” A voice alerted both boys to the presence of the girl standing far back, looking ready to pounce on Lance at the slightest movement. “Just give it back and we can all continue with our day.” 

“Sorry, Evergreen,” the girl physically flinched at the name. It seemed Hunk was once again correct about what not to name their supper villains, “but you’ll have to take it off me.” 

“Bite me,” Hunk heard the ferocity in her voice and was ready to tell Lance to leg it out of their before he did something stupid.

“Where?” Like that.

“Lance stop flirting with the villains. It doesn’t work on regular girls, it won’t work on her.” Hunk ordered through the headset. 

“Yeah, okay. Chill.” 

“What?” Hunk groaned as Lance’s attention was brought back to the small girl who looked just about ready to beat him up. 

“Not you. My fr... Let’s just fight it out.” Hunk’s fingers slid over the keys as he changed the image I the screen so that it was WildFire taking up most of the screen instead. His knees were shaking as he stood up slowly and moved towards the pair who were already fighting.

A quick yelp came over the intercom, informing Hunk that his attention had been diverted for far too long. The screen flicked back to Lance and his opponent just in time to see both of them dive towards the floor. The bodies blocked Hunk’s view of the item they were both so set on retrieving but it didn’t take a genius to work out what had happened. 

Lance quickly stood up, the memory stick in hand, and held it high over his head. Evergreen was half Lance’s hight and probably couldn’t reach the memory stick if she jumped for it. The image reminded Hunk of when his siblings used too pick up his stuff and hold it above his head to mock him.

EverGreen didn’t jump for the stick, instead she brought her foot up and kicked Lance squarely in the shin. Lance began jumping on one foot in a way that would have been comical if not for the small angry girl who looked just about ready to kill him. 

To Hunk’s dismay, EverGreen grabbed Lance’s arm and twisted it before flipping him over her back. Lance barely managed to form a wall of water to catch him before he hit the floor head first. “Well fuck. You’re stronger then you look.” 

“Lance get out of there, now!” Hunk shouted down the com, hoping to hell that Lance would take his advice and flee the scene. Hunk estimated a minute, maybe two if they were lucky, until WildFire joined the fight and there was no chance for Lance to get back with the memory stick that had got them into this mess. 

“Yeah, okay.” Lance muttered as he lifted his hands and sent water to surround Evergreen feet before freezing it, forcing her to wait for WildFire to come melt the ice holding her in place. He gave her a smirk and a salute, “Nice to see you, we should do this again.” 

“Go die in a ditch.” 

“If that’s what makes you happy.” 

“Lance,” Hunk butted in, almost rolling his eyes at Lance’s need to flirt with everyone in existence, even if they had attempted to kill him multiple times.

“I’m going, I’m going.” Lance started walking to the edge of the ally, the memory stick clutched in his hands. “See you around.” 

Hunk let out a sigh of relief the moment Lance vanished from the screen. They’d got the information they needed without Lance sustaining any serious injuries and Hunk still had a half an hour before his curfew. Of course he could say he was sleeping over a Lance’s but eventually that excuse would become overused, especially on school nights.

“Hey dude, wasn’t that fucking awesome.” Hunk spun in his chair to see Lance making his way up the rope ladder up to the tree house where he was sitting. “I totally kicked some bad guy ass and looked amazing while doing it.”

“Not before you got beaten up pretty badly. I still can’t believe that girl judo flipped you. She’s literally half your size.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Lance seemed less inclined to brag about his success. “So, shall we look at what’s on this?” He dropped the stick into Hunks awaiting hand so that he could get the information up on the screen. 

There was only one file on the memory stick, a small document that contained information that the two villains would put their necks on the line to receive. With a tentative breath, Hunk clicked on the link and saw the page open up. 

“Son of a bitch.” Lance swore as he leant on the back of Hunk’s chair.

On the screen in front of them there wasn’t secret plans to assassinate a government official or blue prints to an expensive jewelry store. Instead there were five words that made Hunk want to bash his head into the keyboard.

Better luck next time, asshole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was really short. Thanks for reading and hoped you enjoyed.

**Author's Note:**

> What a mess. This will be updated soon but I’m a mess so I can’t guarantee when. I based the title of a fall out boy song because why not. Thanks for reading whatever I just wrote. Hope you found a way to enjoy it.


End file.
